Found in the rain
by shima orealu
Summary: A.N. This story used to be called No longer alone, but I had to change the title because another story had the same title. What if Naruto had been left for dead and Gaara had been driven out of Sand? What if someone found them?
1. Chapter 1

For those of you who haven't read this story before, I hope you enjoy. For those who have, Gomen. I just reposted these chapters to fix a few of the mistakes. If you readers find some more, please let me know.  
The Third looked at the report that had just come in from the rain country. He frowned. There had been a massacre. The whole clan had been killed off. Nothing of this scale had happened since the Uchiha massacre, except this was worse because there were no survirors and the murderer was unknown. He sighed. He had been watching the Rain country and the clan that had been killed off, the Wara clan. It had been Rain's strongest clan. With that clan, Rain could have become recognized, if the clan had not been warring amongst itself for decades. He pulled a large book from the shelf with known clans and descriptions of their traits.

All there was about the Wara clan was those members that became ninja (a good deal of them) favored the use of taijutsu. acquired new jutsus quickly and that there was a genjutsu called teishou no jutsu that was only used by Wara clan members. There wasn't any detailed information about their history, like there was with most of the other clans, except that it was noted that the family complex was located just to the south of Rain's hidden village and that they had been fighting amongst themselves for years.

The Hokage shut the book with a sigh. Why would someone kill all of them? More importantly, who would be strong enough to kill them all? The Wara clan, although they had kept to themselves, had been bigger than the Uchiha clan and the Waras that had not become ninjas were still skilled fighters, men and women alike. Such a person or people, could be very dangerous indeed. He needed more information. He sent an anbu and a Jonin to investestigate further into the matter. He had suspicions aleady, but he hoped they wouldn't be confirmed.

Meanwhile...in the village hidden in the sand...the Kazekage had a different concern. He met with a masked man in his office "Do it tomorrow."

The man replied, looking up at the kage "What if I cannot kill him?"

The Kazekage replied "Drive him out. I want him out of this village. Let him be Rain's problem and menace."

The masked man nodded, half-bowed and was gone.

Back in Konoha...

A six year old boy didn't know what to do. Tomorrow was the day that he feared the most, the day the village celebrated the defeat of the Kyubbi, and he had been kicked out of the orphanage this morning. It was starting to get cold as the sun set. He shivered and started walking closer to the food stalls as he went through the more deserted area of Konoha at the moment. The smells coming from within them made his stomach growl, but he had no money. He needed a break, though, and to get out of the wind. He shivered again and went to one of the brigher shops that didn't have any customers. He ducked and went in and there was a girl looking back at him, maybe a couple of years older than he was. He waited for it, cringing...but then looked up surprised as she didn't yell at him or cry out. His stomach growled. He crossed his arms, still cold and his stomach grumbled again. His mouth began to water as he smelled food again, very strong this time. He looked, there was a bowl of food on the table. He looked at her.

She said "You sounded hungry."

"What is it?"

"Ramen."

"For me?" She nodded.

Naruto was in disbelief, but he wolfed it down. "Gomen. What..." Just then Naruto felt something dull hit him in the back. A broom handle. He yelped and got off the stool.

The old woman from across the street had come over "Get away from that little girl, demon-brat!" Naruto took another couple of beats with the broom handle to catch the name of the shop. 'Ichiraku'. He looked at the girl, then took off running. He hid behind a corner a few blocks away and panted. He sniffed, on the verge of tears again. He was always beaten. Why?! He never did anything wrong! He had only said eaten a bowl of ramen and said thank you. That wasn't something to get beaten over. He cried at the unfairness of it all.

After a few minutes, he started to feel thirsty, so he wiped his face with the his sleeve and made his way down to a stream, just outside of the village. Once there, he kneeled down and washed his face, then dranks. Afterward, he curled up in a ball near the stream, beside some rocks that acted as a windfall for him.

Naruto woke up in the morning cold. He shivered. It was still early. His stomach growled again. It was early...maybe the villagers would still be asleep...maybe no one would see him...he went back inside the gate and he could smell food in the direction of the Ichiraku stand. He walked that way, with a smile, maybe it was the nice girl again. He saw a bowl of ramen sitting on a crate in the alley across from it and went for it without thinking about where it came from.

As he picked up the bowl and drained it, a group of men appeared from the shadows. Naruto backed up. Their killing intent sent shivers down his spine and made him drop the bowl, which shattered into a million pieces.

One of the men then blocked his path and said "I hope you enjoyed that, kid, because it's the last meal you're gonna eat." The others laughed.

Naruto whimpered, then did the only thing he knew to do. He curled up in a ball on the ground and waited to be kicked. The man who had made the comment earlier said "Get up, demon-brat, and run, or I'll kill you now."

Naruto knew by his voice that he was serious, so he got up and started running, knowing that they were probably still going to kill him anyway, but if he stopped they would for sure. His adrenaline kicked in and he ran and ran for what seemed like forever in the dark, barely missing running into the trees and bushes in the overshadowed forest. After going on for longer than Naruto could ever remember running in his life, his adrenaline and stamina gave out and he fell.

One of the group of men said, with a pant, "Damned fox sure can run. We're at the border of the rain country."

Another said "Yeah. No body but us could have kept up with him the whole time."

The man said "Shut up before someone hears you two. That was the plan, remember?" Then he chuckled "Brat won't be Konoha's or anyone else's problem anymore." He took a kunai in his hand and walked over to the boy who had fallen on the ground.

Naruto panted, exhausted. He couldn't move anymore, but he was still scared. Suddenly he heard footsteps and then a searing hot pain in his chest. He screamed then all faded into nothingness.

The leader of the gang took the boy's jacket and made sure to smear it in the blood that had fallen and he ripped it. He chuckled "Such a pity that the Uzumaki boy was attacked by wolves. He really shouldn't have been playing alone outside the village gates." He put on a sad face "This is all I found when we heard his scream..." He trailed off with a malicious grin. The others laughed again and the group left the bloody boy to die on the ground beside a rock as it started to rain.

On the outskirts of the land of wind...

Gaara was by himself like he usually was, but Yashamaru said he would meet him here today. Suddenly an armed Shinobi dressed in black was running towards him, kunai raised. Gaara had no reason to run, he knew the sand would protect him, but he was afraid at another assassination attempt. He ran and the sand protected him from the attacks. He was chased out of the boundary of the land and into the land of rain. When he tripped on a log, the sand flew up to catch him.

The man faced him and said "Gaara, never return to the land of wind." He turned around and started walking away.

Gaara cried "Yashamaru!"

The man turned back around and threw a kunai, but his mask had fallen.

Gaara cried "Yashamaru..." but he didn't follow after him. Gaara cried. Yashamaru had betrayed him. Had he hated him too? Then everyone hated him! Why? He didn't mean to hurt anybody. Why was everyone scared of him? Was he really a monster?

Meanwhile...

One Nekomi Wara woke up underneath a pile of rubble, boards, pieces of the screens that had been the walls, bricks and bamboo. She checked her body first, out of instinct. She was alive, with no major injury now, but by the pools of mostly dried blood around her, she could see that it had been bad. Suddenly it all came back to her and she remembered what had been the cause of all this. She got out of the wreckage and saw the bodies, with horror. That evil man and his army had done this, Oorochimaru. A shiver went down her spine at just the thought of him. Her horror rising as the first three people checked were dead, she went on to check the rest. Dead. Dead. All dead. Her friends, husband and her two sons. Her stomach and heart sank, but she had to check the rest of the compound, where their half-enemies lived. She ran over the the building across in the compound and found there was no survivor there, either. So many dead bodies, so much blood...her throat became hot and her head swam. Then she lost strength in her knees and collapsed to her hands and knees vomitting. When she got up, she was shaky.

She said, in a faraway voice, "The anbu will come and clean up all of this..." She went back to her house and looked at her husband and two sons. She put them side by side on the floor and looked at them. "Dai, Ryoku, Shin..." She couldn't bear to seem them disposed of by the ANBU. It would be hard enough to see the rest of them go like that, without a proper burial, but she would give that to them. If the ANBU didn't like it, she could care less. 

About a block away from the complex was a little hidden place with a water fall where the boys would play. It would be there. She took her husband first, then the boys and then came back for the shovel. She dug the hole quickly, but tears ran down her face as she held her husband, who she had decided would be the first to go in. "Dai..." She kissed him on the cheek before she lowered him in. Then she did the same thing for her sons and covered them up with a sob "I cannot bury myself, but we will not be seperated much longer."

She noticed vaguely that there was a pause in the rain and a wind had picked up. It dried the tears on her cheeks and blew her long raven hair out from under her forehead protector. She walked away under a tree and lay her outer robe down. She lay her husband's sword and her sons' daggers beside her. She knelt on the robe and took the smallest katana, not a ceremonial dagger, but it would do. As she prepared to join her family, she heard a sound that distracted her. When it stopped, she aimed again, but it started again. She listened more closely. It was a mornful sound...crying...a boy crying.

She performed a few handsigns "teisatsu no jutsu" There were two boys about a quarter mile away. One was awake and seemingly unhurt, but the other one was unconscious and near death. The awake one was of course, the one doing the crying. She put down her hands from her face. If it had just been the first boy, the one that was crying, she could have ignored it, but she couldn't let a child die in front of her, knowing that she could save it. Not after...her own children had died...right in front of her. She put down the dagger and stood. She walked towards them. They were spread out by 10 meters or so. She just needed to heal him, he could fend for himself after that. She got to him and knelt down. Her stomach flipped as she saw the amount of blood. She then put her hands on the wound and concentrated. A green light shone.

After half an hour, she had done it. It had taken up a lot of her energy because the boy had been so near death. She looked at his face. It looked peaceful now. She realized that she couldn't leave him, now that it was turning dark and, as she felt a drop of water hit her cheek, starting to rain again. She picked him up and went looking for the other boy.

She found the little red-haired boy sitting on some sand, still crying. She said "Young one, it begins to rain again. I am going to get dry. Will you join me?"

He looked at her without answering, almost blankly. She said "I found this young one over there." She pointed. She wondered if the boy had known the other one. At no reaction once again, she turned and said "You can join me if you wish."

Nekomi didn't understand why she had invited the other boy. She was just going to keep watch over this one until morning and he would be awake and he could take care of himself and she could...take care of herself, but the red-haired boy...he had looked so lonely, so brokenhearted...so like her...She shook her head again. He didn't look like he was going to come anyway.

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	2. Chapter 2

For those of you who haven't read this story before, I hope you enjoy. For those who have, Gomen. I just reposted these chapters to fix a few of the mistakes. If you readers find some more, please let me know.

:P:P:P:P:P::P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P Nekomi stared at the fire she had started upon entering the cave. After a few minutes her eyes began to grow heavy. She had used up most of the energy she had recovered after the accident healing the boy. She would need to sleep soon. Her head nodded, but she jerked it back up. It would get cold if the fire went out and the blonde boy was still wet. He would catch cold. She didn't want to have to go through and heal him again. Healing took too much energy.

Outside the cave...

Gaara stood, looking in the direction of the cave, trying to make up his mind. Finally he shivered and started walking. When he stepped foot inside the cave, he paused. There was the other boy laying on the floor and the woman was sitting, but slumped. Was she asleep? He walked closer and jumped as she spoke "I am awake. I see you decided to join me."

Gaara didn't answer. After a few minutes of silence, he noticed her fall forward. He caught her with his sand and lowered her to the ground. He frowned as he went over to her and bent down. She was alive. He smiled, then frowned again. She was the only one who wasn't afraid of him, who didn't hate him. Why?

A few minutes after dawn the next morning...

Nekomi looked around confused. Where was she? Then she remembered, the cave. She looked around. The blonde boy was still sleeping and the red haired one was looking at her. She saw the fire was smoldering. She asked "Have you kept that going all night?"

He nodded "I don't sleep."

Nekomi thought this strange, not sleep? Then she took a closer look at him. Those marks around his eyes and now she noticed marks about the other boy's face as well. She had suspicions as to who they were, but she would ask them, once they were both awake. Then she heard the other boy yawn. He sat up. Nekomi rose to a standing position. "It looks like we're all awake now."

The six year old blonde boy looked at her "Did you save me?"

Nekomi nodded.

Naruto asked "Why?"

Nekomi said "I couldn't let you die."

Naruto cried "Why?! Why do you care?" Nekomi could see the question echoed on the other boy's face as well as the look of confusion.

She brushed off her hands on her skirt and sat down on a rock. She said "I believe introductions are in order, now that we're all awake. My name is Nekomi. What are yours?"

Gaara and Naruto looked at each other.

Nekomi said "You first" She gestured at Naruto.

He said "I'm Naruto...Uzumaki Naruto..." He looked down, then up to catch her reaction. It was obvious he thought it would be negative.

Nekomi thought 'So, this is the boy the Kyubbi was sealed into from Konoha. I thought so.' "That's a fine name."

He looked at her in shock. He said "That's it? How come you don't hate me now?"

Nekomi frowned, sadly, she had heard of this boy's life.. He was treated as if he was the nine-tailed fox reincarnated. She studied him. No, he was just a sad little boy. She looked at the other one.

"And you?"

He didn't answer. Naruto sniffed. Nekomi said "Let's move out of this cave. It's stopped raining for a bit." They went outside. Nekomi looked at the partly cloudy sky and wondered at it. An omen perhaps? Then she felt herself being raised up and crushed by sand. She looked at the boy.

Gaara cried "I am Gaara and I am a monster! I don't know why you're being nice to me, but you're scared of me like everyone else! See!" He squeezed it tigher in empasis.

Nekomi shook her head, with a sad smile "Gaara, I thought that was you. There are few other red heads outside of my clan." She coughed as the sand squeezed tighter.

Gaara was very confused. She didn't hate him, she didn't fear him. Why?! He couldn't understand it. He cried "Why aren't you afraid? You could die!"

Nekomi said "I do not fear death" She said this simply, and in a calm tone.

Gaara looked at her in astonishment and took this for bravery. The truth was that Nekomi did not fear death because she would have welcomed it. She woud be reunited with her family. Gaara released her.

Nekomi coughed. She healed her cracked ribs. Then she sat, looking at Gaara. "Why did you stop, Gaara?"

Tears were in the boy's eyes "Because you're not like the others!"

Nekomi nodded and looked at the other boy, who looked scared. "Tell me your story, Naruto. How did you come to be here?"

Naruto said "It was the anniversary of the defeat of the Kyubbi and I didn't want to go into town, but I was hungry..." He sniffed.

Nekomi asked "Why did you not want to go into town, Naruto? Didn't you live there?"

Naruto sniffed "Not since they kicked me out of the orphanage, really. I haven't had anywhere to stay and...I didn't want to go into town because..." He looked down.

Nekomi asked softly, "Why, Naruto?"

Naruto sniffed again "Because they beat me worse then. They always beat me."

Nekomi frowned "Continue."

He said "When I got there, I found a bowl of Ramen... but there were villagers and they found me and made me run and I ran and ran until I couldn't run anymore and then..." He sniffed "It really hurt right here." He put his hand on his chest. "Then the next thing I remember is waking up in the cave."

Nekomi scowled. There was no excuse for treating the child this way. If the child truly was the Kyubbi, there would be a lot of dead villagers. But no, the boy took it, took beatings. She noticed him flinch.

She said "I'm not scowling at you. I'm mad at them. You shouldn't have been treated like that. You're not a monster." Nekomi frowned at something else. She realized that she was forming maternal bonds with these boys disturbingly fast. She was becoming attached. The thought was broken up when Gaara walked closer to her.

She shook her head, deciding to ignore it and said "Tell me what happened to you, Gaara."

Gaara said "Father sent Yashamaru to kill me. He drove me here." He sniffed, looking like he was about to start crying again.

Nekomi asked softly "Who is Yashamaru?"

Gaara sniffed "He was the only one to ever be nice to me." He cried "But he hated me too and you're going to hate me!"

Nekomi's heart panged, but for the boy this time. She said "No, I won't."

He looked at her. She could see him battling with himself over whether he should trust her. These boys. They had been treated so harshly, for no reason. They had had no one to stick up for them. No real family, in Naruto's case, none at all. Nekomi frowned.

Naruto asked "What do we do now?"

He looked at her, hopefully. Nekomi saw Gaara look at her too. She thought 'one of their first bonds of trust. I cannot break it. I'll just take care of them until someone comes for them...' She had to convince herself of this. There must have been at least one person...the possibility that they had lived without anyone to love their whole lives hurt too much.

She said "I don't know. I suppose we should get something to eat."

Naruto asked "Where do you live?"

Nekomi's face saddened. "I no longer have a home."

Naruto asked "Do you have a family?"

Nekomi grasped her chest with her hand and looked down, pained "No. I am alone."

Naruto said "Like me." Nekomi looked up.

Gaara said "And me. Are you hurt?" He looked at her hand on her chest, worried.

Nekomi smiled a sad smile as she sat on the grass. She said "My body is not injured, but I hurt."

Gaara looked at her and put his hand on his own chest "Me too."

Naruto sniffed "So do I."

Compassion flooded Nekomi. Tears filled her own cheeks. Young ones should not have to suffer so. She said "Listen. This is a song I learned when I was young." The boys looked at her. She said "Come, sit." They sat closer to her. She pulled them into her lap.

She sang "Oh, it was spring as I was walking in the orchard and a curious thing i saw."

Naruto asked "What did you see?"

Nekomi smiled and continued "I saw a baby bluebird learning how to fly." She paused, seeing they were paying attention.

"So I stopped and took a look."

Naruto asked "What happened?"

Nekomi smiled and continued "The baby bird looked around, took a hop and got knocked down."

"From the tree?" Nekomi nodded.

Gaara asked "Was it ok?"

Nekomi said "That is something you will have to answer yourself, as you grow." They turned around to look at her.

Gaara asked "Are you going to run away?"

Nekomi frowned, slightly for a moment, then said "No," with a smile smile. That was the defining moment that changed all of their lives, for at that moment Nekomi decided that she would stay with these boys and protect them with everything she had. She'd never abandon them. As long as she lived, they would never be alone again.

:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P:P So, tell me what you think, guys? Still going good so far? Suggestions are welcome as always. Jiao. 


	3. Chapter 3

For those of you who haven't read this story before, I hope you enjoy. For those who have, Gomen. I just reposted these chapters to fix a few of the mistakes. If you readers find some more, please let me know.

Nekomi smiled, then she heard sounds of ronin. She scowled "Dai's sword!" She took off running, then called to the boys behind her "Follow me. Come on!" They ran after her.

Nekomi caught a group of stopped bandits who were fighting over the sword and daggers. She said "Excuse me, those belong to me."

They looked at her and guffawed "They're ours now. If you don't want trouble miss, you better leave."

Another one said "If ya do, I'm the man for you." He gestured at her as the others guffawed.

Nekomi frowned "I give you one last chance to surrender the swords." More laughter. Nekomi sighed "Why do men always want to do it the hard way?" She turned and yelled to the boys "Get down and cover your ears!" They did. Nekomi did around a dozen handseals and shouted "Shitsunen no Justu!" All the men fell down. Nekomi picked up the swords and went off to the stream to wash them off. She could hear the boys follow her. She washed off the swords and dried them with her soft kimono. She put on Dai's sword and looked at her younger son's katana for a moment, then put it and the other on her as well.

Naruto asked "What are those three swords?"

"They're all that I have left of my family."

"What happened to them?"

"They were killed."

There was silence for a few minutes as they walked, then Naruto asked "Where are we going now?"

Nekomi answered without turning "To find somewhere to live. I know of a small place that will need fixing."

"Where is it?"

"In the direction that we are walking." Nekomi answered simply, then Gaara asked another question that stopped Nekomi in her tracks.

"Are you going to be my mom?" Nekomi looked at both of them. She was going to take care of the boys and she was already feeling like she was or wanted to be a mother figure towards them. It was not an unexpected question, it was just the straight out way he asked it.

She smiled "Yes. I will be a mother to both of you."

Gaara smiled. So did Naruto. Nekomi couldn't help but smile again in return. It wasn't very far, just around five miles to the place, but she saw the young ones would tire of the walk. She contemplated whether she should just use one of her jutsu, but then there was the risk of someone watching and reporting her to Oorochimaru...but she could check to see if any were around. She did a few handseals and said "Sakuteki no Jutsu." She smiled as she let her hands fall back to her sides. She sensed the presence of no enemy. She turned to the boys and asked with a smile "Would you like to get there fast?" They nodded. "Hold on!" They did "Inabikari no Jutsu!" With a flash like lightning, they were gone. They reappeared in front of a small broken down looking house. Naruto surprised her with another question.

He asked "Jutsus are what ninjas do, right? Are you a ninja?"

"Yes, I am a ninja."

Gaara asked "How were we just there and now we're here? It didn't feel like I moved." He looked at her in surprise.

Nekomi smiled "One of my favorite techniques. Inabikari no Jutsu."

Naruto was couting on his fingers with thought "You used three different ones. How many are there?"

Nekomi said, with a catlike smile, "Thousands."

"Wow...You must be really strong, kassan." Nekomi started, but then she smiled. Naruto certainly had gotten into the habit of calling her mother quickly.

Gaara asked "Do you know all of them?"

Nekomi chuckled "No, but I know many jutsus. Now...let's have a look at this house..."

Gaara said "There's a hole in the roof."

Naruto said "And there's no glass in the windows."

Nekomi smiled "It's not raining. Maybe our luck will hold out and it wont for the next day or so."

"What are we going to do now?"

"Fix the house."

"How?"

"The roof is made from bamboo. I'll have to get some. Glass for the windows I can do quicker. Gaara, can you make some ordinary sand stand up in a sheet in front of you? I'm going to turn it into glass."

"Can you do that?"

"Yes."

Gaara tried, then he found he was able to do it. Nekomi shouted "Katon: Hakunetsu no justu" after doing several handseals at it and the heat from the justu melted the sand into a puddle. Nekomi warned "Don't touch it. It's very hot." She then had Gaara do it a few more times and said "There are our windows. Now for the hole in the roof..."

Naruto cried "I want to help, kassan!" He then got distracted as he watched the pool of sand. 'How can sand melt. He poked some regular sand. It seemed kind of hard. He reached toward the pool of sand .

Nekomi saw him just before his hand got into it. But it didn't miss his finger. He yowled and collapsed on the grass crying. Nekomi ran over quickly. If she didn't heal the damage quickly, he could lose that fingertip. She said "Hold still, Naruto. Let me have it."

He cried "It really hurts, kassan."

"Next time I tell you not to do something, don't do it! Got it?"

"Hai." He eyes teared up again.

"Shhh." She pulled him onto her lap and tended to the finger. It would be fine now. The boy would have healed by himself almost as quickly, but there still may have been damage. She looked at him. Gaara knew, but Naruto didn't know. It was something he should know, but not right now. She said, softly, "Now, listen to mommy from now on."

He sniffed then hugged her "Kassan!"

She hugged him back then said "Come, now we must fix the roof."

Gaara asked "How?"

"How good are you boys at climbing?"

Naruto answered "I can climb!" Gaara looked down.

Nekomi said "Watch Naruto. He'll show you how, Gaara." Gaara nodded, embarassed.

Nekomi sent them up the tree to get the leaves she wanted to mix in for the paste that filled in the holes between the bamboo and hardened. She got the bamboo and they came back to the house. "I've got it from here."

Naruto and Gaara watched as their new mom jumped up on top of the roof and quickly repaired it and then as she took the now formed glass and put it in the windows. "She's fast."

"Yeah."

Nekomi was swinging the door back and forth. It was still good. She smiled. Repairs done. She had checked the bathroom and miraculously the plumbing still seemed to work. She announced "Now it's time to clean!" She smiled as she saw that this job obviously didn't appeal to them. She dug around and found some brushes they could use to start cleaning up the floor. She smiled. They had been modified like the ones at her home. "Oi, this could be more fun than you think. Any of you been skating before?" She strapped two of the brushes on and showed them. "It works better with water." She held out a bucket "Naruto, will..." He grabbed the bucket and ran off to the stream with a cry of "Cool!"

Nekomi sweatdropped "I forgot to tell him that we have running water."

Gaara looked like he was fighting with a laugh. Nekomi said "Holding back laughter isn't good for you." She tickled him. He laughed and tried to get into a ball. She tickled him out of it. She stopped when his breathing got heavy and picked him up to sit in her lap. She'd have a kimono to wash later, but it was worth it.

Gaara turned around to look at her when he could stop laughing "What was that?"

Nekomi asked, with surprise although she shouldn't be, "You've never been tickled before, Gaara?" He shook his head. "What did you think of it?"

"It was...fun." Nekomi smiled. She asked "Why were you trying to keep from laughing earlier, Gaara?"

He looked down "When I get happy, bad things happen." He sniffed "Yashamaru..."

Nekomi held him "That's not going to happen anymore. Do you believe me?"

He turned around and looked at her, then nodded. She smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "Good."

Naruto ran in with the water.

Nekomi said "Now pour it out on the floor." He did. She strapped the brushes to their feet. She watched them as they started out shakily. She laughed "Be careful!"

Naruto tagged Gaara "You're it."

Gaara just looked at him. Naruto said "That means you've got to get me now."

You could see the light go on in Gaara's head. "Tag. I've heard of that, but I never played it before."

Naruto said "I watched some kids play. One person is 'it' then they tag someone else and then they're it."

"What's the point?"

"You're trying to not be 'it'."

"Oh."

"And now you're it."

"So i'm not it anymore if i touch you?"

"Or anyone else who's playing." They looked at Nekomi.

She said "I've got to do the rest of the cleaning boys..."

Naruto said "Please!"

Gaara looked at her with pleading eyes too. "You can play too...kassan." He smiled.

A tear came to Nekomi's eye. Gaara had accepted her as mother too. She said "How could I refuse after all that?" She smiled and strapped on the last pair. Gaara touched her.

Naruto said "You've got to say 'your it' Gaara!"

Gaara cried "You're it!" He ran off. Nekomi chased them around all over the house then tagged Naruto and he chased the both of them. After about thirty minutes of this, Nekomi could see the boys needed a break.

She thought 'It looks like they've been channeling chakra into their legs without knowing it. Interesting.' She untied the brushes and took a look around. Once the water dried, a good sweep would take out all of the loosened dirt. She needed supplies. "We need to go into town."

Gaara and Naruto looked at her, frowning. Nekomi frowned also, they would be sure to attract attention. She had planned on using a genjutsu to disguise herself, but the boys wouldn't be able to do it themselves yet. But the necklaces, yes, they would work..."Let's go outside, but leave the door open so that the house can air out." They followed her out. She bit her thumb and performed the handsigns for the summoning jutsu. A lion around the size of Nekomi showed up. "Hello Sierra."

"Nekomi! Everyone thought you were dead too. We heard about what happened. Are there any other..." Nekomi shook her head sadly. "I am the last Wara."

"I was worried that you were gone too. You should have called me sooner!" She poofed away. Nekomi was left with her mouth open. Sierra reappeared though.

"What?" She said when she saw Nekomi's look "I had to go tell everyone. Why did you summon me anyway? And who are the cubs? I've never seen them before."

Nekomi said "I can't go back to the complex and I want you to get a couple of things for me. The cubs are my adopted sons."

Sierra looked at her sadly "They won't replace the ones you lost."

"I know."

"You want me to get the genjutsu crystal necklaces, right?"

Nekomi asked "How did you know?" Surprised.

Sierra said "You'll have to go into town soon for supplies. I smelled no food in the house, also those two stick out like a sore tail."

Naruto said "Hey!"

Sierra sniffed both of them and then looked at them more closely. "I've heard of these two. Did you know that they're rumored to be dead?"

Nekomi nodded. "Just like me. Now, to change the subject. You can't go there as you are. Only Waras summon cats. I'll have to henge you."

"Into what?" Sierra asked with distaste.

"A rabbit?"

Sierra growled "I eat rabbits."

"A bear." Sierra growled.

Nekomi said "Sorry. Sorry. I forgot about the incident with the bear. It can't be a fox, they're too similiar."

Gaara said "What about a raccoon?"

Nekomi and Sierra looked at him. "That's not a bad idea. Ready, Sierra?"

"Let's get this over with." Nekomi henge'd her. "Good luck, Sierra." Sierra ran off. While she was gone, Nekomi went about getting the garbage out of the house and in the can out back. She also noticed the lack of cooking utensils. The question arose in her mind how the power and water were still on, but she dismissed it. She would check that out later. She had found a broom and just gotten the floor clean when Sierra returned. She took the necklaces out of her paws and changed her back to normal.

Sierra said "The bodies are gone."

"ANBU"

"Yes. There was a team of them left. It appears they are doing a headcount."

"Damn it. They'll find out I'm not dead and they'll think my family's alive too. I buried them."

"They'll find the buried ones. A hyuuga's on their team."

Nekomi frowned "Then all that's left is me."

"What are you going to do?"

"Double henge a rabbit after I kill it and hope it fools them."

Gaara looked panicked "Don't go Kassan!"

Naruto cried "Don't leave us."

Nekomi said "I will return. You have my word."

"No!"

Sierra stepped between them. Nekomi cried "Inabikari no Jutsu!" She was gone.

Naruto cried "Why did you do that?!"

Gaara said "What if something happens?"

Sierra said "She has taken you in as her cubs. Nekomi would never abandon her cubs. She will return. Nekomi is a capable warrior. You need not worry. I will stay until she returns and protect you."

Gaara looked at the big cat. So did Naruto.

Naruto thought 'She's big. I wonder if I could ride her.'

Sierra saw his looks and backed her ears "I am not a horse. I am a lion. You don't ride a lion."

Naruto whimpered at her glare and growl "You're scary."

Sierra sighed "Cubs." She turned to look at him "You may stroke me if you wish."

Naruto touched her fur. "It's soft." He ran his hands down it then tried the other way. Sierra growled softly.

"Don't rub it backwards."

"Sorry...come feel, Gaara. It's soft." Gaara came over and rubbed Sierra too. Sierra purred and stretched.

She said "You're good cubs." She licked their faces.

Nekomi couldn't use the teleportation technique again, so she had to use a double genjutsu to make her invisible and hide her energy to keep her from being spotted by the byakugan. She found the place where she had lain and put the henge'd rabbit who now looked like her there. It was lucky they had not checked this part of the complex yet. She left and made her way back home.

Before she dropped her jutsus and came in she saw a sweet sight. Sierra had licked the boys. She smiled and dropped the jutsus.

"Kassan!"

"Kassan!" They ran over towards her. "You're back!"

"Of course." She then looked at them seriously "When I told you i'd never leave you, I meant it."

Sierra said "If that's all, I'll be going now."

"Tell Oodora I say hi."

Sierra snorted. "Sure."

"Sierra?" The lion turned back around to see Nekomi with a curious expression.

"What?"

"Thank you for watching my sons."

Sierra smiled "They're good cubs." She turned and poofed away.

Gaara asked "What is it?" As Nekomi showed him the crystal.

Nekomi said "It's a disguise." She did some handsigns and closed her eyes to program the two necklaces and gave them to the boys "Now put them over your heads." They did then looked at each other in surprise. Instead of blond and red hair and blue eyes, they both had brown hair and brown eyes now. Then they went to look in the stream. Nekomi followed.

Naruto saw his whisker marks were gone, his hair had even flattened.

Gaara saw the marks about his eyes had dissapeared.

The thought that went through both their head was 'I look normal.'

They saw Nekomi had changed to have brown hair and brown eyes too.

Gaara said "But you don't have a necklace."

Nekomi answered "I don't need one. We will have to walk this time." With a foreboding feeling, Nekomi began their trip to town.  
There weren't many things to correct in this chapter, but I thought since I was reposting the others, I might as well repost this one. 


	4. Chapter 4

Hello readers, I'm back from break and so glad to be home. I hope you guys all had a happy holiday and I hope you enjoy this chapter .

Ok, a few notes. One, I'm sure some of you have noticed, the Uchiha massacre had already happened when Naruto had been driven away from the village at the beginning of the story, so in my story, it happened when he was four. The official age for entering the academy will be age 8, so they will finish when they are 12.

For those of you who haven't read this story before, I hope you enjoy. For those who have, Gomen. I just reposted these chapters to fix a few of the mistakes. If you readers find some more, please let me know.  
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Nekomi walked with Naruto and Gaara into town. It was better than risking a teleport. She knew the area well, it was on the edge of the clan territory. She also knew that if she continued going as she did, she wound go closer into the grounds and fall into traps. They would have to take the path out of the territory. They would only have to take the path for about a mile before they were outside the Wara lands. She paused and looked at the boys. The only problem was that the path was surrounded by a genjutsu that made it seem like one who had entered upon the path blew up and there was a confusion genjutsu on the path that made ones who travelled on it get lost into the traps or worse.

It would not affect her, since she had created the jutsu to begin with, but the boys...the only way it would affect them would be if they were knocked out...but one could not sleep...She sighed. What then? She thought on the properties of the jutsu. Once one was in a stronger genjutsu, one could not be affected by a weaker one...she would have to put a genjustu on them to get them out of the lands safely.

The jutsu could be used as a devastating mental attack, tearing the opponents mind to shreds, or it could be used to calm frightened children into sleep. In this case, she would give them an awake dream, a pleaseant one. It would require more concentration because she could not use their own memories; she would have to create and keep the dream going. She would have to split her concentration between her mind and the outside world. She rubbed her temples. It would take up half of the energy she had stored up, but it was the only thing she could think of and it was worth it to keep them safe.

Naruto and Gaara had stopped when she did. Naruto asked "Kassan..."

Nekomi looked at him "Hai?"

"Why did you stop walking?"

Nekomi smiled and looked at him. She said "We're going to go over some difficult terrain. I'm going to carry the two of you for a little bit, ok?"

Gaara looked at her, question in his eyes. She smiled and picked them up. "Do you like it when mommy sings?" Naruto nodded. Nekomi said "Then listen well. I have a new song for you." Nekomi began the jutsu. To any listener not involved, it would have sounded like soft singing. Both boys' heads drooped on her shoulders. She smiled tiredly and split her consciousness.

Inside...

Naruto and Gaara looked around. They were on a grassy hill under a blue sky. "Where's Kassan? What happened?" Naruto cried. Then Nekomi appeared.

"I'm here."

"What happened?" Gaara asked.

Nekomi said "You're both having a dream."

Gaara looked amazed, then disbelieving "But I can't sleep."

"An awake dream."

"How?" He looked at her in confusion.

She smiled and said "Where we are now is like a dream that all of us share. I made this dream because outside, where we really are, there is a harmful jutsu that would hurt you two if you were awake."

"But not when we're asleep?" Nekomi could see the confusion evident on both their faces.

She said "Yes. It's an illusion jutsu. I'm using another one to create this dream. A stronger illusion jutsu will nullify the effects of the weaker one." They still looked confused.

Then Gaara asked "How long are we going to be in here?"

Nekomi said "Time is relative here. I can speed it up or slow it down as I see fit."

Naruto asked "What are we going to do?"

Nekomi answered "What would you like to do? We could to anything."

Naruto asked "Really?"

Nekomi said "Of course. It is a dream." She could see they really had no idea of what to do. She smiled and created a shady tree with a couple of swings. "How about swinging?" After a look at her, they both got on. Nekomi pushed them. Gaara was a little scared at first when he noticed that his sand didn't rush up to save him when he fell out. Nekomi caught him. She noticed his distress and said "You can't do that here, Gaara-kun, but you don't have to worry. I won't let anything happen to you. Do you want to swing some more?" Naruto fell out too and fell on his butt. His eyes teared up. Nekomi went over "Are you alright?" Naruto nodded. Nekomi thought 'What now? One one hand there's the lesson of teaching them to perservere, on the other...I don't want them hurt. The lesson can wait for later...' She looked back at them, having decided to switch the activity and saw to her amazement Naruto had got back on when she had been thinking. "Naruto-kun?"

Naruto said "I'll hold on tighter this time, Kassan. Let's do it again!" Gaara joined him with a look at her. She smiled. Perhaps no lesson was needed.

She said "Ok." She started pushing them on the swings again. They were halfway out. She sped up time in the dream. While the time seemed normal in the dream, it was really going faster than the outside time, allowing two hours in dream world for 30 minutes outside.

Nekomi watched the boys play tag and joined in after they asked her. They sure had a lot of energy. They started to wear down at the fourth hour, which was fine since they were almost at the end of the property. She sat with them in her lap. There, they hit the end of the property. She said "It's time to wake up now."

Gaara said "I don't want to."

Nekomi said "I have to let the technique go. The danger's over now and it makes me tired, but we can always come back here, ok?"

Gaara nodded slowly, after looking at her for a good minute. She dropped it. Naruto and Gaara opened their eyes to find themselves back on their Kassan's hips in the forest.

Nekomi's headswam. The jutsu...it had taken much more out of her than she had expected. Had she been so distracted that she had not noticed the extra strain? She was on the edge of blackness, but she tried to keep consciousness. Naruto was talking to her...

Naruto yelled "Kassan! Are you ok?!" He had seen her eyes close and her head shake and then she swayed. "Kassan!"

Gaara said "Come on. Jump down." Naruto did right after Gaara. His sand went up to catch her.

Nekomi felt herself falling, then something caught her and gently set her down. She opened her eyes and saw a blurry Gaara and Naruto. She had used up 90 percent of the energy she had with that technique. She needed more than ten percent to move around with. She could see she was alarming the boys, but she couldn't even talk intelligently right now. She needed Chakra, bad, so when Naruto grabbed her hand the transfer was almost automatic. She didn't realize what she had done until she was back to a normal state. She had taken a good portion of chakra, but he seemed fine, a little tired, but a normal person would have passed out. He must have huge chakra reserves...

Gaara was looking at her strangely. She asked "Yes, Gaara? You have a question?"

Gaara said "What was the blue spirals that went from Naruto to you?"

Nekomi said "That was a energy tranfer. I borrowed chakra from you, Naruto." She looked at him, then away a little, embarassed. It was an offense in her clan to just take energy like that from an ally "I'm sorry. I should have asked..."

Naruto said "It's ok, Kassan. Did it make you better?"

"Yes." Nekomi answered truthfullly.

"Then that's what matters!" Nekomi chuckled.

"You're a good boy, Naruto-kun." She turned "And thank you too, Gaara-kun."

Gaara smiled.

Naruto asked "How much farther are we away from the village?"

"About four miles."

"Still?!"

Nekomi nodded. "We've only gone one mile or so." She then frowned and said "Gaara."

"Hai?"

Nekomi warned "Try not to use your sand unless you absoultely have to, ok?"

Gaara cried "But Kassan..."

Nekomi explained "I know that you just used it to save me and I'm glad you did, Gaara-kun, but we're in disguise, so all of us have to be careful about using techniques."

"Sorry." He looked down.

Nekomi lifted his chin. She said "I'm proud of you, Gaara.Your control of the sand is a great tool and I'm glad that you have it and I don't mind if you use it when we're home, but we don't want bad people to see and come after us, do we?" He shook his head.

"Good boy. Now, let's get going again. Would you two like to ride or walk?" Nekomi asked as she rose from her sitting position.

Gaara said "Walk." He looked at Naruto.

Naruto said "I'll walk too." He thought 'If Gaara's gonna do it I can too.'

Gaara thought 'Good. Now Kassan won't get really tired again.'

Nekomi smiled down at them. She said "Thank you, Gaara."

He looked at her surprised. She smiled down at him. He put his hand in hers and so did Naruto. Nekomi smiled. Perhaps this wouldn't turn out to be such a bad day.

They made it to town with little further incident and as all three of their stomachs were growling at this point, they stopped at a little restauraunt. Nekomi ordered for the three of them.

The waitress looked at her in disbelief. She asked "Ma'am, you want five bowls of miso ramen, ten bowls of pork ramen and twenty bowls of the special ramen? That's 35 bowls!"

Nekomi cursed herself. No one else but her clan had such big appetites. She heard someone murmur "That's a Wara sized appetite." The woman beside him shushed him "It isn't kind to speak of the dead."

Another man at the bar said "It's not like you can't use the business, Shona-san. Business has dried up."

The woman blushed slightly. Her mother's stand really would close if it wasn't for regulars like the man who had spoken, even so, they would be hard put without the business from the Wara clan. They had been the main supporters of the shop.

Nekomi noticed the pause of the waitress and thought 'She seems embarassed. I bet business has been bad. It would be sad if they closed. They're the only good ramen stand in town. She said "Ano...I forgot to mention, It's to go. I promised I'd get orders for friends of mine too. It's alright to put it on the same order, isn't it?"

The waitress seemed to snap out of her thoughts and her face showed understanding now "Oh, of course. I see. Sure, it will take about an hour though."

"Hai. I have to do some shopping in town too. Is it alright if I do that and come back?"

"Sure." The waitress smiled at them. They left.

Naruto asked "What friends?"

Nekomi said "I just told her that. The three of us will eat the ramen."

"Why did you say it's for friends then?"

Nekomi looked at him and said quietly "Because, Naruto-kun, normal people would only eat maybe two bowls of ramen and we can eat a lot more than that."

Naruto asked "How many can you eat?"

"About twenty."

Both Naruto and Gaara's eyes widened. "Really?"

Nekomi nodded "Now, let's go shopping." They went into a scroll shop first and Nekomi bought a couple of medium sized scrolls, ink and a pack. Next was the clothing store. Nekomi browsed the clothing. It was regular clothes. No good kimonos or ninja gear here. She would have to go to another store for that in another disguise. She browsed and picked out a peaseant style dress for herself and a couple of pairs of black pants and two peaseant tops and sandals. For Naruto and Gaara she picked out pairs of black and brown pants, sandals, and let them choose the shirts. When they finished, Nekomi paid and they walked out. Next would be the store with the ninja stuff. Once they were out of the store, Nekomi found an alley and looked around. She'd have to make this quick. She spun out the scroll, painted the symbol for clothing on it, performed the handseals in a blur and the clothes dissapeared that she had been holding. She caught the scroll, which had closed and put it back into her pack and looked around once more. No one.

Naruto and Gaara looked at their new Kassan astonished. What did she just do? What happened to the clothes? Naruto opened his mouth.

Nekomi smiled. She said "I'll explain when we get home. Trust me for now, ok?" They nodded. Nekomi stepped closer to a door and behind a post as she came out, she now looked like a ninja, a male one.

Naruto looked confused and frightened. Nekomi said "It's me, Naruto-kun. I just have to go to another store."

Gaara said "The headband you're wearing. It's from Suna."

Nekomi said "There are no unkown ninja in mist. There are in Suna and Suna is close by. Can you two stay outside for a moment? I promise you can come with me to all of the other stores."

Naruto cried "What if the bad guys come?"

Nekomi tapped her head "I'll know. I won't let anything happen to you, got that?" She looked both of them in the eye. They nodded, reluctantly. "Good boys." Naruto and Gaara stood outside the shop, watching the passing villagers with distrust.

Nekomi was inside. She bought training clothes for the boys, kunai, shuriken and training clothes for herself, also the proper sandals for a ninja. She went up to the counter.

The shopkeeper said "Why is a Chunin from Suna buying gear in Ame?"

She looked him in the eye and said gruffly "Because I need a new outfit, I ran out of weapons on my last mission and I've got another on the way back and I promised my sons I'd bring them back something. Good enough?"

The man looked embarassed now "Gomen nasai. I was just curious."

She grunted and sealed the items after she paid for them and put the scroll back in the pack. When she walked out the door, she sidestepped Naruto and Gaara and into the shadows. She seemed to dissapear for a moment, then she reappeared and walked out as Nekomi. She walked back up to them and hissed "If I'm in a different disguise than my usual one, you don't know me unless I say so, understand?" They nodded, but still looked confused, and a little hurt.

Naruto said "Gomen" quietly. Gaara looked at her sadly.

Nekomi bent down and hugged them. She whispered "Mommy's sorry she was mean, but you'll remember, right?" They nodded. She put her hands on their heads and tousled their hair. "Good boys."

Naruto asked "Where are we going now, Kassan?"

She said "To get things for our house, and food."

Naruto said "Food!"

Nekomi thought with amuzement 'Can't keep Naruto down for long.' She smiled "Food for later, and after we do that, we'll go get the ramen, ok?"

Naruto said "But I'm hungry now!"

Nekomi said "It's not been an hour yet. Be patient." He looked down. Nekomi paused then added "Patience is a great skill to have, especially for a ninja."

Naruto looked at her in surprise "Really?"

"Yes." Nekomi smiled. It looked like he was really thinking about what she just said.

"Not even the pork ramen?" Nekomi almost facefaulted. Naruto giggled at her reaction. Nekomi sweatdropped 'The boy does have an appetite like a Wara. I'm going to need more money.'

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	5. Chapter 5

Hello readers. I know it is unusual, me updating so soon after the last time, but I've been feeling more inspiration with this story than with my other ones. I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Also a note. I found I made an error. Nekomi, Naruto and Gaara are in Rain and Rain's hidden village is Amegakure, not Kirigakure. I got Mist and Rain confused for a moment as I wrote it. I also corrected a few other mistakes. So gomen, I have reposted the chapters with the mistakes corrected.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Nekomi took care of the food and house things in similar fashion as she had taken care of the clothes. As she left the food shop and they were on the way to the ramen shop Nekomi let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. She had gotten by with the seals and the genjutsus without anyone noticing or being curious. On the way to the ramen shop...

Naruto asked "Kassan?"

"Hai?"

"Are we done for today?" He looked tired. Nekomi couldn't blame him. She had taken a good bit of energy from him earlier.

She said "Yes. I can take care of the rest when we get home. Do you want me to carry you?"

Naruto looked at Gaara who was walking and didn't seem to be tired then looked back at her "No."

"Aren't you tired?"

"No."

Nekomi smiled. She said "Okay, if you don't want to." She smiled a little as she looked at the boys again. They would push each other to greatness, especially Naruto. He was competitive already. They made it to the shop and went in.

Everyone looked up when they came in, then back down as they were recognized as the customers from earlier, except for two men, both who hadn't been in the restauraunt earlier.

The waitress said "Oh, you came back. I'm glad. I was beggining to think it was some kind of trick."

Nekomi nodded politely to the waitress, but she could feel the two men watching her. It was making her uncomfortable. She kept herself from looking back at them, but she had caught a glance. One wore a mask and another a hood. She took the food in 4 bags. She had the boys hold 1 bag of five each and she held two bags of ten and they left the shop. As soon as they had, she picked up the boys and their food and ducked behind the alley. She changed her genjutsu so that she would appear invisible. As she had thought, one exited the restauraunt a minute after her and looked around then took off. The other one did similarily, but did not leave without looking in her direction with a strange expression.

Nekomi let out a breath. She didn't like that at all. Were they looking for her? And what was that look about? Had the second man sensed her? She sighed. Well at least neither of them had seen her or really sensed her. She wasn't in the best fighting shape in her condition and with two young children if it was someone powerful after her. In the quick glance she had at them, she hadn't learned much. She didn't want to do the technique where she could detect their chakra levels, she had been afraid it would give her away as a ninja. She then snapped out of her thoughts when she felt fear and uncertainty coming from the boys. She silently did her searching jutsu. There were people, but none where they should be able to see her. She dropped the invisibility genjutsu and set the boys down.

Naruto asked "What just happened, kassan?"

Gaara asked "Were those bad men?"

Nekomi said "I don't know. I thought they might be."

"Were they chasing us?"

"I hope not. They won't find us now anyway. We will go back home now, ok?" They nodded. Nekomi did an extended search jutsu. Her head hurt when she returned, but there was no one close to the house. She didn't want to stay in this area any more than she had to. She picked the boys back up "Inabikari no jutsu!"

They were at the house. Nekomi spread out the second scroll on the counter and cut it into strips. She then took the ink and drew seals on the strips. Once she had twenty of them done she said "Wait here." They sat inside the house. Nekomi could tell she was frightening them, but she had to do this now, before her trail was sensed. She pushed the tags into the trees that surrounded the little house. Then she went and laid a false trail. Once inside the circle of tags she made a long series of handseals and said, quietly, "Toku no ametsuchi no Jutsu." She called for Naruto and Gaara who ran out. She held the last tag, which was the biggest. "Touch it." They did. Nekomi put it into place in the biggest tree and a ring of light shone for a second and was gone. Nekomi smiled.

Gaara asked "Kassan, what was that?"

Nekomi said "Another genjutsu. It will keep the bad men away. No one will be able to see the house except for the three of us."

Naruto asked "So nothings wrong?"

Nekomi answered "Not right now."

Naruto asked "Can we eat then?"

Gaara and Nekomi sweatdropped. Nekomi smiled. The genjutsu had made her feel better. It would be hard to break and not only would it make the house invisible. It caused feelings of aversion in a person who tried to cross. It was designed to make them uncomfortable. If they pressed on, it could cause them to pass out. Nekomi went back into the house with her boys. "Let's eat."

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII I know this was a short chapter you guys. I'm sorry. I wanted to include a jutsu list here though. From now on I will explain new jutsus at the end of the chapter. Gomen.  
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII List of Original Techniques used in Found In The Rain

Shitsunen no Justu

What it means: Oblivion technique What it does: Makes those attacked pass out and forget the fight Creator: Nekomi

Sakuteki no Jutsu

What it means: Searching for the enemy technique What it does: It allows the user to sense enemy chakra even while hidden, or (only a few can use this application: it allows the user to search out and find minds of people close by)  
Creator: Dai Wara

Inabikari no Jutsu What it means: Flash of Lightning technique What it does: teleportation of the user and anything he/she is holding Creator: Nekomi

Katon: Hakunetsu no Jutsu

What it means: White hot fire technique What it does: The user can shoot white hot fire at a target Creator: Ryoku Wara

Toku no Ametsuchi no Jutsu

What it means: Shelter of nature technique What it does: Using the help of plants that surround the area affected, this is a genjutsu that makes what is inside the circle not appear to those not introduced to it at the beginning.  
Creator: Nekomi

Names of Nekomi's family members that have been spoken of thus far:

Husband: Dai Older son: Ryoku Younger son: Shin

Summoned animal: Cat

Sierra- female lion about the size of Nekomi Oodora- boss cat, a huge tiger who likes to drink

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	6. Chapter 6

Hello readers. I've been feeling the need to do an update on this fic, so here it is. Also, if I make any plot mistakes, feel free to tell me and forgive me for the occasional grammar mistake I make, i do usually finish writing these sometime in the early a.m.

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They ate and Nekomi remembered the scrolls of stuff in her bag that needed to be unpacked. Some furniture needed to be built too. The boys could help with that. She'd use some bamboo that was growing nearby. She'd cut it and bring it inside the barrier for the boys to work on. She then noticed the boys still had their necklaces on and that she hadn't dropped her genjutsu. She said "Take your necklaces off." They did and returned to looking like themselves.

Naruto asked "Kassan, aren't you going to take yours off?"

Nekomi said "I have to go cut some bamboo." Both boys put down their bowls. Nekomi said "The two of you will stay inside the ring while I do it. You may go out into the yard, but not out of the ring, do you understand? I put the jutsu up to protect you two." They nodded again and followed her outside.

Nekomi walked outside of the ring which she pointed out to Naruto and Gaara. She gathered some bamboo, meanwhile sending her senses out in a mile perimeter search by instinct. Once she had gotten a pile she was satisfied with, she bound it into four bundles and picked them up. She again did a search of the perimeter and frowned. Something was off, but she couldn't pinpoint it. She frowned and walked off in the opposite direction from her home. She then began to run and once she had gotten a good ways, did her Inabikari no Justu silently.

Naruto and Gaara grabbed onto her when she returned "We thought you ran away, Kassan!" Naruto cried.

Nekomi looked at him. She asked "You saw me?"

Gaara nodded.

Nekomi asked "Did you see anyone chase me?"

Gaara nodded.

"Did they see you?"

He shook his head.

Nekomi asked "Naruto, did you see them too?"

Naruto scratched his head. "How did you know there were two of them, Kassan?"

Nekomi's breath caught. "Describe them." She demanded. "What did they look like? Were they working together?" She realized she was frightening the boys and she forced herself to calm down. "Please."

Gaara said "One had a hood on."

Naruto screwed up his face, thinking "One had on a mask...I think I saw his hair. It was grey..."

Nekomi frowned. The same two that had been following her from before. She didn't like it. She didn't like it a lot. Could they track her? Were they looking for her or were they looking for the boys? Suddenly she didn't feel safe living in Rain anymore. Well, it really wasn't all that sudden, but she just realized this need to move. What if they were spies from Oorochimaru. Here, they were only a few miles away from where IT happened. They were close to everywhere that held danger for them. Suna, Konoha, Oto and now Ame. It felt like a noose was closing about her neck. She looked at the two boys. She looked at the windows that Gaara had helped her make. She shivered. Rain wasn't safe for her anymore, but she had things she had to get before she left.

Naruto asked "Kassan...what's going on?"

Nekomi said "I think those were the bad men from earlier."

"What are we going to do?" Gaara asked.

Nekomi looked at the boys with a serious face. She said "We're going to change our names and move to Kirigakure, the village hidden in the mist."

Naruto cried "But we were just going to move in here!"

Gaara asked "When?"

Nekomi said "Tonight." Nekomi would have waited, but there was a pressure bearing down upon her. The pressure of impending danger and she rarely misinterpreted it.

Naruto's head was whirling. So was Gaara's. They thought they were going to settle into a house with their new Kassan, and now they were moving, far away it sounded. And they were about to leave.

Gaara asked "Why are we going to change our names, Kassan?"

Nekomi said "We are leaving our pasts behind. With them we will leave our names." They nodded. Nekomi said "You two can always call me kassan, but to others I will no longer be Nekomi Wara. I will be Kagomi Mino."

Naruto asked "What will our new names be, kassan?"

Nekomi said "I was thiking about Akari for you and Banshou for you, Gaara. How about those?" Nekomi was nervous. She knew the boys could hear it in her voice, but she couldn't help it. The danger sense was pressing down on her.

Naruto said "Akari Mino." Like he was trying the sound of it out on his tongue. He looked at his kassan. This seemed to be important to her. He thought 'Everyone hated Naruto Uzumaki. Maybe...they'll like Akari Mino better.' He said "Okay."

Nekomi was relieved that the boy seemed to accept this so easily. She looked at Gaara, hoping that he would take it as well as Naruto.

Gaara thought. He didn't like his name. The thought of starting a whole new life...He asked "Kassan, will the people in the place we go to not know us?"

Nekomi smiled. "We're going far enough away where they won't recognize any of us."

Gaara smiled "Then I will be Banshou."

Nekomi said "Then from now on, we are Kagomi."

"Banshou"

"And Akari."

Kagomi smiled. She was proud of her boys. This alleviated the pressure for a moment from the sense, but she could still feel impending danger. She wanted her family scrolls. Money would also be useful. She'd have to do the special summoning for them, but she could only do it a short distance. It took a lot of energy. She said "We're going to go as soon as I get a couple of things."

"We're going out again?" Akari looked at her confused.

Kagomi said "No, I'm going to do a summoning of some scrolls."

Banshou asked "Like with the cat?"

"Kind of, but it's a little different." The scrolls were to be kept and used at the Wara compound, but in case of emergency they could be summoned once. There were two seals put into the scrolls. One would allow the summon and once summoned, that one would fade and the other that didn't allow another summon would activate. This was to keep them from being stolen by another clan member. She looked around. There were no signs of them being here save the bowls and bags. She put all of it in one bag and incinerated it with a katon jutsu. She said "As soon as I finish, we're leaving."

Akari asked "Right now?"

"As soon as I finish."

"Why?"

"Remember those men you saw chasing me?" They nodded. "I don't know if they're after me or you, but either way...they weren't chasing me to make friends. They could be assassins." She saw this had shaken both of the boys up. Both had had assassins after them before. She said "Don't worry. I won't let them get you, but we need to get moving tonight. I have a bad feeling."

"What are you going to do now that you have to finish?" Banshou asked.

Kagomi said "I have to get some scrolls."

"What for?"

"My family jutsu and money."

Akari asked, confused "How can you get them without leaving"  
Kagomi answered "I'm going to summon them, but the two of you have to go stand in the doorway to the bedroom." They did, but watched her with worried faces. Kagomi needed concentration for this. She breathed in and out and closed her eyes, bringing the jutsu to memory. She then got the ink and painted kanji on the floor and performed the justu which contained of around a hundred handsigns. Kagomi smiled in relief as her family scroll appeared. There was a giant scroll, the size of Naruto. It contained the rest of the scrolls. The seal showed it had been untampered with. She put it in the pack she had lowered to the ground just outside of the circle. "Now, for the money" She did the jutsu again, but nothing happened. She frowned. That was impossible. How? Someone couldn't have taken it. There were no Waras left and if Oorochimaru had found out how to get it, he would have taken the technique scroll too, wouldn't he? Well they were held in seperate places...She sighed and reviewed the jutsu. She hadn't done it wrong, but just in case she tried it one more time. Again, nothing. She sighed again and tied up her back and replaced it on her back.

Banshou said "Nothing happened."

Kagomi said "Someone took it. I can't summon it. We'll have to make a living for ourselves in Kirigakure."

"Kirigakure?"

"The village hidden in the mist. It's in the land of water."

"Is that where we're going?"

"Yes. It's far away from Suna, Ame, and Konoha. No one will recognize us there as anyone but Kagomi, Akari and Banshou."

Akari said "But that's across the water. How are we going to get there?"

"It will take too long to run there. I'll have to use Inabikari ni Jutsu a few times."

"How many?" Banshou asked.

Kagomi thought. It would take five to get out of rain and ten to get out of fire, before they took a boat at the harbor. And that was going at maximum range each time. Not good. "Fifteen."

Banshou could tell that that was a problem. "How many can you do in one day?"

Kagomi was surprised that the red head picked up on the fact that she couldn't do them all in on day. How did he know that? She decided to answer him honestly though. "Five."

"So it's going to take three days?" Akari asked.

Kagomi said "At top speed. We'll have to find somewhere to rest in between times."

Banshou said "But you've already done it today."

Kagomi thought 'That's right. I have used up a lot of energy today. "I'll only be able to do it two more times today. That will put us near a small village I know of. Put your necklaces back on." They did. Kagomi took out a third necklace from a pocket inside of her shirt and put it on. She set it and said "Hold on to me." They grabbed on to her legs. "Inabikari no Jutsu!"

Just outside the house...

A man in a mask was trying to force his way through a genjutsu barrier when it dissapeared. He saw a house and went in, but found no one there. There wasn't any clue but a ring of kanji on the floor. It looked like a summoning circle. There were also some ashes on the floor, and the house looked like it had been fixed up, but that was it. The house was deserted. He left, frustrated. He had been sure this would lead somewhere.

A few minutes later, the man in the hood who had been watching and waiting for the man in the mask to leave went in. He looked around. He touched the glass. There wasn't a place to get glass closeby. Most didn't use it. They used screens instead. Glass in a small house like this. Strange. Why put something expensive in a house like that, unless...no. That was impossible. No one else alive knew that jutsu. Perhaps the owner was just foolish or stole the glass. That was a better explanation. The house was unremarkable. It had been abandoned. The only things that drew his attention was the ash on the floor and the circle of kanji. He picked some of the ash up and sniffed "Ramen bowls?" There must have been over a dozen to make this much ash. He shook his head again at the first thought that came to mind. 'That's impossible. Quit fantasizing and get out of here before that leaf nin comes back.' He scolded himself. Then his eyes widened. The kanji...it was for a summoning. A familiar summoning, a specific summoning. "Damn it, so that's where the jutsu scroll went." But only a Wara could summon that. It took a wara's blood to summon them. That meant one or more was alive! And they were gone. "Crap." He hadn't smelled any trail. They had gone the fast way. They would be nearly impossible to find as he doubted the cats would help him. He sighed. He had to try. Besides, it wasn't like he had anything else to do. At least now he had a mission. He sure the leaf nin wasn't following him and started on his quest.

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So, what do you think readers? Be sure to review and let me know. Ja ne. 


	7. Chapter 7

Hello readers. Here's the next chapter of Found in the Rain.Sorry I haven't been as quick to update my other fics.

First, though, I would like to give an explanation of names.

Kagomi is a generic name which fits as Nekomi wants to blend in as much as possible, but she was a little more creative with boys' names. Roughly translated, Akari means light and Banshou means sunset. She gave Naruto his new name because of his bright attitude and Gaara his name because she felt 'the sun had set on his old life' and he would now begin a new one, like her. Besides, they all need new names, they are trying to blend in, remember? They don't want someone recognizing their names and coming after them.

Also, because I think this will be easier, I will leave their names to Nekomi, Gaara and Naruto when they are by themselves, but when they are in public, they will refer to each other by their new names and those will be the names given. Tell me if you disagree with the way I'm doing this.

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Nekomi (Kagomi) panted. They had just made two more jumps and she was near her limit. The town was a couple of miles away. They would walk.

Naruto (Akari) asked "Where are we?"

"We're still in Rain, but we're not close to Ame anymore." She stumbled.

Gaara (Banshou) cried "Kassan!" His sand almost went to catch her before she righted herself with her next step.

Nekomi waved her hand at him, dismissingly, "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. I'm low on energy but I'll be good after a night's rest."

Gaara looked at her still worried. She looked pale...He frowned as he thought over the events of the past few days. He had been ran out of the place that he had lived in for the first five years of his life. When he thought about it, he had never really considered the place a home. What was a home really?

Nekomi looked down at him. "What's wrong, Oboc-chan?"

Gaara looked at her with wide eyes. She had just called him son. That was the first time he had ever been called son. His father had never called him son, he would barely even call him by his name. He asked "What's a home?"

Naruto looked at her, interested in the answer too. Nekomi frowned a little. It pained her to realize that these boys had never really had a home with people who loved him. The loneliness that they must have had to endure that she only now was able to begin to understand. She said "A home is a place where you are with people who care about you, a place where you can feel safe and relax."

Gaara asked "So, it's a place?"

Nekomi smiled "It can be in any place as long as you are with people who care about you. It could be in a house, in the forest, anywhere."

Gaara smiled. He liked this definition of the word, but he frowned again as he went back to his previous line of thought. He had been run out of his village by the only man he thought of as a friend, then as he was wondering what was the point to living, here comes this woman. She wasn't like anyone he had ever met. She actually seemed to care for him and she wasn't afraid of him. He trusted her and thinking on it, it scared him a little. There was the worry in the back of his mind that she would betray him too, like Yashamaru had, but he still couldn't help it. Not even Yashamaru had shown affection to him.

Naruto thought 'If that's a home, then I've never had one. I know the orpanage was never a home, but the way she said it, Konoha didn't even count as a home.' Naruto paused and found he no longer had any loyalty to the village he had lived in for the first few years of his life. Everyone hated him there. He thought 'The only thing I've ever had that was close to a home is her...He then grinned and said "Kaaa-san! I've decided! I have a home" Both Nekomi and Gaara looked at him, surprised at his outburst. Akari continued "I have a home with you and onii-san."

Gaara was surprised again and the way things were going he was getting surprised so much he still didn't think he had adjusted. The other boy had called him brother, so soon after just being called a son. His eyes watered and to his disbelief, tears began to fall.

Nekomi looked down at him as she heard him sniff. "Gaara-kun, what's wrong?"

Gaara sniffed, not wanting to cry and not understanding why he was. Nekomi said "We'll take a little break here before we get to the town." She sat down on a stump. "Go on and sit." They hesitated for a minute. Nekomi pulled them onto her lap. It saddened her to see them hesitate. Her own boys when they were younger would practically knock her over jumping into her lap. Had they been so starved for love? She felt a heavy sensation as she remembered something that Sierra had said that had been bothering her ever since.

'They're not going to replace the ones you lost.'

Nekomi knew this and it wasn't what she was trying to do, she told herself. Gaara and Naruto would never replace Ryoku and Shin, but...they needed her, so she would take care of them and do the best she could to raise them as her own. She promised herself she would not let what happened to Ryoku and Shin and Dai and the rest of her clan happen to her new little family. This time she would die first.

Naruto coughed. "Ow, Kassan. That hurts." Gaara's sand had came up to protect him from the almost crushing grip of Nekomi, but it did not lash out at her.

Nekomi snapped out of her thoughts and realized she had clenched up with the boys still on her lap "I'm sorry, Naru. I was...thinking..." Nekomi swallowed, not trusing her voice to not crack.

Gaara looked at Nekomi. She was crying too. "Why are you crying, kaasan?"

Nekomi tried to manage a smile, but failed and said "I cry because I'm sad, Gaara-kun. Why do you cry?"

Gaara was suddenly embarassed. "Because...I...Noone ever...accepted me before." He looked down at his feet.

Naruto looked at him, then also down at his feet. "Me neither."

Nekomi smiled "Does that make you happy?" They nodded. Nekomi said "It's ok to cry when you're happy." They looked up at her again.

Gaara asked "Then it's not ok to cry when you're sad?"

Nekomi said "Only when you're really sad, then it's ok to cry a little, but not for a long time because then the sadness will never go away."

Naruto and Gaara looked at their new kassan. Naruto said "That means you're really sad, kassan?"

Nekomi said "I think I feel a little better now, how about you?" They nodded. "Then let's be back on our way to the little town." They got up and started walking again. Nekomi used a lot of self control not to stumble again. They made it to the town in an hour.

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR The man with the hood threw his head back to smell the wind. A faint, faint sent...He felt around for energy markers. There were two, one faint and one fainter. He followed them. He was relieved by one thing though, he had spied on the grey nin from earlier. He was from Konoha as he saw when he finally got a glimpse of his forehead protector and he was going back toward Konoha. He had given up looking, that made less trouble for him. He didn't need the shinobi tailing him as he looked for her.

'It has to be her...no one else could have survived. She was the strongest.' The markers were so faint, it would still be very difficult to follow her, but follow her he would.  
RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR Nekomi looked around in the town. It was small, but it had a inn. They went in and stood before the desk.

A old, bent lady shuffled up "Can I help you?"

Nekomi smiled at her "I would like to rent a room."

"Oh! A customer! I have a room for you young lady and who are those handsome boys with you?"

Gaara and Naruto blushed, unused to such treatment.

Nekomi smiled "My sons"

"They look just like you." The woman said looking between them. "Here, you're room is the first on the right."

"Arigato gozaimasu."

They walked to the room. Once Nekomi saw the bed she resisted the urge to fall on to it. The urge was so strong she shuddered to reject it. She sat down on it instead.

Gaara said "I'll keep watch, since I can't sleep."

Nekomi frowned. He had a point, he would be the best for the job since he couldn't fall asleep. She didn't like that, though. Everyone should be able to dream. Once they were out of harms way she would look at his seal. Nekomi decided she would only sleep lightly however, so she could wake upon a sign of danger. She nodded. There was a bed, but there was also a mat in the room. She saw Naruto drag out the mat. "Naru-kun, I'll..."

Naruto seemed to be able to read her mind. He said "The mat's mine. You take the bed, Kassan. You're bigger and tireder than me." He smiled.

Nekomi smiled back, touched by his concern. "Thank you, Naru-kun" She locked the door and window and pulled the shade then got into the bed and succumbed to her exhaustion.

Naruto looked at Gaara who sat on the floor. "How come you can't sleep?"

Gaara looked uncomfortable. "It's because of Shukaku. I can't sleep or he'll take over. My seal doesn't let me sleep."

Naruto thought. He said "Shukaku?"

"I have the racoon demon sealed in me."

"What's it like?"

Gaara looked at the boy in front of him. He asked "Naruto, how come they tried to kill you?"

Naruto looked down, sad. He sniffed "They all hate me."

"Why?"

Naruto cried "I don't know! They always used to beat up on me...they called me kyuubi-brat."

Gaara had heard about the other demons. He said "Kyuubi, isn't he the fox demon?"

"Yeah, he tried to destroy Konoha until the fourth hokage defeated him."

Gaara frowned. He said "The tailed demons can't be defeated. They're too strong. They have to be sealed away like Shukaku was sealed into me."

Naruto's eyes widened "So the Kyuubi was sealed into someone?"

Gaara said "You have whisker marks like a fox and they called you kyuubi-brat. It was probably you." Naruto's eyes widened as this sunk in. He yelled "Kassan!"

Nekomi jumped up with a kunai in her hand, facing the door. Then, as no danger was apparent, she looked sleepily at Naruto. "What's wrong, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes "Am I really Kyuubi?"

Nekomi yawned "You're no more Kyuubi than Gaara is Shukaku. You're their jailors to make sure they don't escape. You're not them." As she saw Naruto's eyes tear up as he realized why everyone had hated him, she said "Think about it this way, Naruto. Ramen is contained by a bowl. Does that make the bowl ramen?" Naruto shook his head. Nekomi continued "Now, people might pay more attention to the ramen sometimes, but if the bowl is well made and of good design, they might forget about the ramen in it and just consider the bowl." She noticed the lost look on his face. She said "I've known about both of you since I met you. It doesn't bother me."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Naruto asked.

Nekomi frowned "I didn't want to hurt you."

Naruto frowned, then smiled a small smile. "Kaa-san?"

"Hai?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, now go to sleep. We'll be leaving early." She went back to bed, but Naruto still sat up for a minute.

Gaara asked "You really didn't know?"

Naruto shook his head. "No one ever told me."

Gaara said "Everyone knew who I was in Suna and they didn't care about letting me know."

Naruto asked "Don't you get tired, not sleeping?"

Gaara shook his head "I can regain energy while awake."

"Oh. Goodnight Onii-san." Naruto crawled under the blanket on the mat and fell asleep.

Gaara smiled and whispered "'night, otouto."

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I'm thinking of doing a time skip once they get settled in at kiri. Tell me what you think of the idea. 


	8. Chapter 8

Hello readers. Just a few notes before I begin, I thought I had explained this already, but I'm going to have Gaara be the older brother, at least act the role, since he already does. I haven't decided if I'll make him physically older. Also Ayame, the ramen girl is going to be one year older than Naruto in my fic. Ok, that's all the notes for now.

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Nekomi woke to find Gaara sitting in the corner, watching Naruto with a smile. She smiled too. He had curled up with the blanket and had his thumb in his mouth.

Gaara said "Kassan, you're awake. It's not light out yet."

Nekomi said "It almost is. The sun will rise in a half hour. We need to prepare a little before we head off."

"Prepare?"

"I've got to change the appearance a little to confuse anyone who could be following us. I've also got to get us something to eat."

"Oh.." Gaara paused, remembering the last time they had been out getting supplies. "Kassan, can't you just take it out of the big scroll you brought?"

Nekomi sweatdropped. She had forgotten about the scroll for a minute. She said "Oh, yes, some of it has to be refrigerated if it's not sealed, and I didn't seperate it, so I'll have to take all of it out if we're going to use it. I suppose it will be easier than going into town."

Gaara sweatdropped, but said nothing. Nekomi went over to the scroll and picked it up. She undid the seal for food. It was a good thing she had gotten some snacks. She was glad she had packed canteens in with the food. That kept her from having to open another section. She kept some of them and put them in her bag for later and seperated enough for them for that morning and sealed the rest back.

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A man dressed in black, wearing a hood was up, running a half hour before dawn. He thought 'I'm close, I know it.' He could just tell somehow that she had gone this way. After another half hour he began to approach the town. He hadn't slept all night. He had been running full speed and it was beggining to wear him down a little, but he couldn't stop now.

When he felt a burst of specific energy his eyes widened. There! He ran faster and up through an inn, to the keeper's protests. He burst in through a door and found a made up bed and a put up cot. There was no trash. There was no signs that any one had been here, save...He threw his head back and took a deep breath of the air in the room. The smell...it was her! But there were two strange smells with her. He studied the room more, but it yielded him nothing. That was enough, he knew it was her. She was alive! Nekomi...How had she gone so fast? As he sent his senses out to look for her, he found no trace. Unless...she had used Inabikari...but why? Who was she running from? And who was she running with? He frowned.

These were questions that he could answer when he met her. What he had to do now was to find her, but now he was beat. He fell forwards onto the bed with a grunt. "Damn it, you're one hard noble to track down, woman." Soon the inkeeper came in and began to yell at him. He threw a small bag of coins at her "There. Leave me alone, you old hag."

She looked at the money with wide eyes, then decided it was none of her business and closed the door on the way out. It was enough money for a month's rent.

He sighed and mused aloud "For all of the people to be left, it had to be the two of us. What a mismatch." He yawned "Oh well, hopefully she won't kill me when she sees me." He fell asleep as the sun made its way up into the sky.

NGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNNGNN They made 3 jumps and Nekomi paused.

Naruto asked "Are you out of energy again, Kassan? I can give you some."

Nekomi shook her head. She said "No, but we'll stop for a snack and something to drink before we keep going. Inabikari drains your energy a little too and so do the necklaces."

They nodded. Nekomi sniffed the air and turned around in a circle. She smelled water. It was probably best to get some water before heading into fire country. "Follow me." They did.

Naruto asked "Where are we going?"

Nekomi said "To a stream."

"Where? I don't see one."

"It's up ahead."

"How do you know?"

Nekomi tapped her nose "I can smell it." Naruto looked confused.

"But water doesn't have a smell."

Nekomi said "Yes it does. It's just harder to detect then somethign with a strong smell, like ramen. It's only a quarter mile. You should hear it soon." They did as they approached it. It turned out to be a good sized creek. They filled up their canteens and sat beside the creek. Nekomi took out the snacks and gave half of them to the boys to split up amongst themselves.

Naruto said "Hey, you got more!"

Nekomi laughed. "I need more, Naru-kun, but don't worry. When we get to Kiri, we'll go to the best restauraunt they have and eat till we're stuffed."

Naruto had shiny eyes "Really?"

"Hai." Nekomi smiled in response. She looked at Gaara. She said "I bet I know what you'd like?"

"What?"

"Dango."

"What's dango?"

Nekomi sweatdropped. She said "We'll all have some when we get to Kiri, all right? It's really good."

"Yatta!" Naruto yelled.

Nekomi put a hand over his mouth and said urgently, but gently "Naruto, not so loud. We do not want to draw attention to ourselves, understand?"

He nodded and looked down "Sorry, kassan."

Nekomi tried something that she thought might work better. She shook her head "I don't know how you'll ever become a ninja if you're that loud? They'll hear you coming a mile away. Ninjas are supposed to be stealthy."

Naruto looked at her with wide eyes. "I can be a ninja? Like you!?" He seemed really excited now. "Can I learn how to use a sword and shuriken? Can I call the cats too? What's it like to be a ninja? Will you teach me those cool jutsus? How many have you not done already? What..." Nekomi put a hand over his mouth again, with a laugh this time.

"Calm down, Naru-kun. All of that comes a bit later, but yes. I'm going to train the both of you to become strong. Whether you become ninja is your choice."

Naruto said "I'm gonna be a ninja, just like you!"

Nekomi smiled, but said "Naruto, your voice."

He whispered "Sorry, Kassan." He was still grinning ear to ear though and jumping up and down.

Gaara looked at the hyperactive blonde and smiled.

Nekomi asked "What about you, Gaara? You don't have to decide right now."

Gaara looked at her with a look that asked 'are you serious'. He said "Of course I'm going to be a ninja. What else would I do? Arrange flower baskets? Sell vegetables?"

Nekomi snorted, then was surprised "Gaara-kun, you made a joke!" She hugged him, which surprised Gaara again. He also surprised himself when he hugged her back. He was a little sad when she let go. She said "Now, hurry and eat. We've got two more jumps to go before we rest."

Naruto asked "Where will we be when we stop this time?"

Nekomi said "Fire country."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No! I don't want to go back there!"

Nekomi caught his wrist. "Look at me." He did. "We won't be anywhere near Konoha and we're all in disguise. They're not going to find us. We'll leave again at dawn."

Gaara asked "We should get there by noon. What are we going to do for all of that time?"

Nekomi sweatdropped again. She hadn't thought about that. She needed the time to sleep, but the boys wouldn't need that long, especially Gaara. They would get bored out of their minds just waiting around for that long and boredom trouble with boys that age, maybe not as much from Gaara, but Naruto...she worried about what he would do. She thought and came up with an idea. She said "You'll train, the both of you."

"Train? But I thought..."

Nekomi interrupted "You will train in a chakra control excersize in the room."

"Chakra control?"

"Yep. I'll show you when we get there." They finished up eating and refilled their canteens once more, cleaned up with an incineration jutsu from Nekomi and left.

Two jumps later...

Nekomi was beat as they walked to the town on the other side of the border with rain. It was at least a few days fast travel by foot from Konoha. They should be fine. She walked around until she found an inn. She noticed Naruto had tensed up and was looking around nervously. She put her hand on his head and said "Do not worry." They went in and Nekomi rented a room once again and they went up to it. She put her things down beside the bed, showed the boys the bathroom (it was a suite style) since they'd have to use it, not being in the outdoors anymore, and went back and locked the door.

Naruto saw her look at the bed and cried "Kassan, you're suppossed to train us!"

Nekomi blinked. Huh? Oh, the leaf excersize. She opened the window with a yawn and plucked two leaves off of the tree. She held them in front of the boys' faces. She said "Watch." She used chakra to make the leaf stick to her forehead and then to make it fly off her forehead and then she took it a step further and made it hover above her hand. "Were you watching?" They nodded. Nekomi gave them the leaves. "Practice." She crawled underneath the covers and was asleep again.

Naruto and Gaara looked at each other and then looked at the leaves. The wind blowing in was cold. Gaara shut the window with his sand. Naruto pulled out the mat and they sat across from each other on it.

An hour later...

Naruto cried "I can't get it to work!" The leaf just kept falling off. He looked at Gaara. "That's cheating. You can't use sand!"

"Why?" Gaara frowned.

Naruto said "Because, you gotta do it with your own chakra, like me."

Gaara frowned and tried again, but faced the same problems as Naruto.

Naruto giggled as the red head crossed his eyes to look at the leaf that had slid down at his nose, and then stopped as it stopped falling "How...did you do that?"

Gaara was surprised and the leaf fell. "I don't know."

"Do it again!"

"Ok."

Naruto whined "I still can't do it."

Gaara's face screwed up, thinking "I was looking at it hard, until I could almost see nothin' else. Then it stopped."

"Ok! Let me try!"

Naruto tried again.

Three hours later...both boys' stomachs were growling. They lay back, tired. They had both gotten the leaves to stick, but they couldn't figure out the rest of it.

Naruto said "I wonder if there's some food left..." He looked in the bag, but all he saw was the scroll and the canteens. They both gulped down the water in the canteens. When he was about to grab the scroll his wrist was grabbed. He jumped.

Nekomi opened sleepy eyes "Naruto-kun. Gaara-kun?"

"Here, Kassan" Gaara answered.

"What are you doing?"

"We're hungry."

Nekomi frowned. She should have thought of that. She sighed and got up. "Don't touch the scroll. If you had tried to open it, it would have hurt you. I put a trap in it to make it explode if it was taken from me."

Naruto looked frightened, but relieved that she had stopped him.

Nekomi took out the food and put the rest back. At this rate, they would be out of food when they reached Kiri. She said "This isn't instant food anymore." I'll have to cook it." She yawned again "I didn't get any plates at Ame...oh well, you can eat out of the pot." She mixed together some of the ingredients with another yawn with the water from her canteeen and used a low level fire jutsu coming from her hand to cook it. She sat it down on the floor and produced two spoons. "Eat."

Gaara asked "Aren't you going to eat, Kassan?" Gaara sweatrdropped as he saw Nekomi already back in bed asleep. So did Naruto, but they ate. After eating, they picked up their leaves again and looked at them.

Naruto said, with a grin, "I bet I can get it to fly off my head like Kassan did first!"

Gaara said "No I will. I had to teach you."

Naruto hmphed. "We'll see."

Four hours later...

Naruto had passed out, exhausted from the training and was now snoring on the mat.

Gaara sighed. He was lonely. He was so glad he had found these people, his new family, but he still had to be up all by himself while the others were sleeping. He wished he could sleep too, if he would have dreams like Kassan showed him. He jumped when a figure rose in front of him in the dark room. He backed up, but was shocked when the figure picked him up and the sand didn't protect him. "Let me go! Kassan will..."

Nekomi laughed softly "Gaara-kun. I know it's really dark in here, but it's just me. I'm really going to have to fine tune your sense of smell."

Gaara relaxed as he realized that it really was her. "I thought you were asleep."

Nekomi said "I still keep a lookout in my sleep. I don't want you to feel lonely again, Gaara-kun. It's a terrible feeling."

Gaara looked at her. "I want to dream, Kassan!" He cried. Nekomi held him, to comfort him. She frowned. She really would have to look into that when she got to Kiri.

She said "As soon as we get to Kiri, Gaara-kun, I'm going to take a look at that seal and see if I can fix it, so you'll be able to sleep like Naruto-kun."

Gaara's eyes widened. "Could you really do that?"

Nekomi said, solemnly, "I will try my hardest. That I promise. But for now," She paused and looked at Gaara. "Let's sit up together for a while."

Gaara said "But you need to sleep, kassan..."

She said "I got enough sleep to make another five jumps tomorrow, or today as it soon will be." They were talking in almost a whisper so as to not wake up Naruto. Nekomi said "Besides, I can regain energy if I stay still, I just do it faster when I'm asleep." She sat on the bed and patted the bed beside her. Gaara climbed up hesitatingly and sat beside her. Nekomi said "Now, how much progress did you make with that justu?" She asked him with a questioning eyebrow, then smiled.

Gaara grinned and said "I can make it stick!"

"Show me."

An hour before sunrise...

Naruto woke up to the smell of food cooking. "I smell food..." He drooled.

Nekomi said "It's breakfast. We're about to leave again."

Naruto asked "Will we be to Kiri then?"

Nekomi shook her head as she continued to cook the food. "But we will be half way through fire country." She saw Naruto's worried look and added "Don't worry. We're staying far away from Konoha." Naruto still looked a little nervous. Nekomi said "Well, I've seen what Gaara learned. Did you learn the technique I showed you?"

Naruto whined "Did he do it with the sand? That's not fair."

Gaara cried "I didn't! Look!" He put the leaf on this head and proudly focused and shook his head back and forth. "See!"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."

Nekomi asked "Why did you accuse Gaara of using the sand? You seemed upset about it."

Naruto said "It's cheating. He's got to use his own chakra like me! He did it earlier."

Nekomi said "But it looks like he's got it now on his own. How about you?"

Naruto grinned "You bet!" He also focused and got it to stick. "See!"

Nekomi smiled. Impressed with how fast they had learned the excersize. It would be more difficult for them than most children, with the immense amount of chakra they already had. She said "Very good. Now we eat, and we're on our way."

After they ate...Naruto asked "What are we going to do with the pots?"

Gaara said "Yeah, we can't burn them."He looked at her.

Nekomi said "I'm going to wash them out and put them back."

"How? Are you going to use another cool jutsu?"

Nekomi laughed. She said "Nope, just soap and water." She went to the bathroom and washed the dishes and resealed them. As she saw the dissapointed look on his face, she said "Jutsus require energy. Any time you can do a task without using jutsu, you should. You should save your energy for when you really need it."

"Hai..." Nekomi finished cleaning up and strapped her pack back on. Naruto and Gaara took her hands. They were on the go again.

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I'm planning on doing a timeskip, but not until they get settled down in Kiri. I think I'll go regular speed until then. Don't forget to read and review. Ja Ne. 


	9. Chapter 9

Hello readers. It's time for the next chapter of Found in the Rain. I wish I had as much inspiration for my other stories as I have for this fic, but oh well, at least I have inspiration for one of them...onto the story. Oh, and p.s. I've decided to make Haku a girl and the same age as Naruto. Also, I'm not sure when Zabuza finds Haku, but in my story, he finds her when she's four. One more thing, I can't remember if Gaara and Naruto are five or six now. Do any of you remember?

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Nekomi made the five jumps into the land of Fire, and was about halfway through. They walked into the next town. Nekomi thought 'It's a good thing I've done a lot of scouting in fire country or I wouldn't be able to use Inabikari like this...Suddenly her stomach growled. Nekomi blushed lightly as the boys looked at her. She said "Ah, what do you two think of getting something to eat? We've run out of stored food. How about..."

Naruto cried "Ramen!"

Nekomi smiled. "Ramen ok with you Gaara?" Gaara nodded. Nekomi said "Fine, but you'll eat vegetables too. They're good for you."

"Hai..." Naruto had a feeling he didn't like vegetables.

They walked into town. Nekomi felt uneasiness at the edge of her consciousness. She pushed it to the back of her mind, disregarding it. She was just nervous interacting with people again, that was all.

They soon found a restauraunt and went in. Nekomi almost backed out, the place was full of ninja and ronin looking types. It must be a hangout. She swallowed. No, she could not leave now, it would draw suspicion as more than one of them turned around to look at her. She swallowed. She walked up to the counter, Naruto and Gaara closely behind. She said "Oh, do you serve ramen?"

The owner said "Hai, I haven't seen you around here before..."

Nekomi said "No, I'm just passing through. I'm on a trip with my sons."

The bartender looked at the three of them "They look like you. How old are they?""

Nekomi had programmed the necklaces to make them look ten. "Ten and eleven."

"Where are you from?"

Nekomi paused. She could tell the truth. "I come from Rain country." It would only be the partial truth however if questions were asked.

"Where in Rain country?"

Nekomi lied "A small village, you wouldn't have heard of it, it's in the north."

The bartender nodded.

"Could I please have a vegetable plate and six bowls of pork ramen, please?"

"Hai."

Nekomi saw Gaara and Naruto look at her, but she was relieved they stayed silent. Naruto did because Gaara was glaring at him. She sat down at a table. Naruto and Gaara sat beside her. Nekomi restrained herself from flinching as a ninja came over. Instead she smiled and asked "May I help you?" She looked at him.

He was a konoha ninja. 'Oh how wonderful' Nekomi thought sarcastically. He said "I haven't seen you before."

Nekomi said "Oh, I'm sure I don't stick out much, but I'm not from Amegakure, I'm just from rain. It's a good sized country."

"Which city?"

Nekomi named off a city to the north and he seemed satisfied with the answer, but then he paused as he got closer to her. Nekomi looked down. Crap, the necklace had come out on top. She looked, the boys' ones were still underneath their clothing as their necklines were higher.

The man took the orb of the necklace in his hand. "This is a special necklace. Where did you get it?"

Nekomi thought 'Crap. What do I tell him?' She said "It was a present from a friend of mine."

"Really? Then you won't mind if I take it off!" He took it off and nothing happened. He looked dissapointed.

Nekomi thought 'Thank Kami I wasn't using the necklace for my genjutsu!' "Can I have that back now? It's all I have to remember her by."

He asked "Was your friend a Wara?"

Nekomi nodded and cried "Misara-chan! I miss her! She gave me it as a birthday present. She got it working for the nobles. It was a month's pay, but she said it was worth it. I'd give it back to her if I could just see her again..." she said wistfully. She had always been a good actor. The man seemed to believe her. He gave it back to her reluctantly. "Thank you." Nekomi was praying in her head for the man to leave.

The man, who had on standard ninja gear was a jonin by his vest, although he wore a mask like an anbu. His hair reminded her of a scarecrow. Nekomi thought for a moment, then picked him out of the bingo book descriptions she had commited to memory. This was Hatake Kakashi, wielder of the Sharingan eye! He would be able to see through all of their disguises if he lifted up that hitate! She swallowed, trying hard to cover her nervousness. She noticed Naruto seemed to really be on edge too. He was as close to her as he could get.

The man said "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Hatake Kakashi."

Nekomi said "I'm Kagomi Mino and these are my sons, Akari and Banshou."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Nekomi chanted in her head 'Leave, leave, leave...'

Kakashi sat down. "You don't mind if I join you do you?"

Nekomi said "Of course not."

Naruto said "But kassan!"

Nekomi looked at him. "N.Akari-kun, is that anyway to treat a guest? Be nice. You should show respect to travelling shinobi."

Naruto looked utterly confused, but complied "Hai. Gomen."

Kakashi frowned. Why did that voice sound familiar? He shrugged it off. He said, in almost a whisper "I investigated the Wara incident."

"Hai."

Kakashi continued, setting up for a reaction. He said "I found something peculiar with my team."

"Hai?" Nekomi started to sweat alittle, but kept herself as calm as she could.

"We checked the body count. The numbers don't add up."

Nekomi's heart stopped. Had they been found out. Her face paled.

Kakashi wondered at the reaction he was getting. This woman seemed to be hiding something. She was sweating now. Did she know something about the assassination? He said "What could account for just one missing ninja?" Kakashi knew that being out on other missions or getting destroyed by fire could account for the innacuracy in body count. Every Wara had been accounted for save one. He had not expected her reaction. When he looked, she was gone. He saw her at the doors of the place. 'She does know something.' He went after her.

Nekomi thought 'How does he know? How does he know?! Crap! What if he knows about Naruto or Gaara?'

Gaara asked, as they ran, trying to get away to do an unseen Inabikari, "Does he know about us?"

"Looks that way."

Naruto said "We have to get out of her now! I don't want to go back!"

"We have to find a private area!" Suddenly Kakashi was in front of them.He said "Hold on. I need to ask you a few questions." Nekomi grew more and more nervous as he approached. He would take her boys away from her. She didn't want to fight him here! She would have to take him out quick, and stealthily. She thought quickly, then smiled "Oh, I ran out because I had forgotten about an errand I had in town." She stepped closer "Now, what did you want to ask me?"

The second Kakashi opened his mouth and let down his guard, Nekomi used the oblivion jutsu she had been forming behind her back on the copy nin. He fell and she propped him up at a bar and took Gaara and Naruto to an alley that was clear. She said, quietly, "Now, we've got to get to mist now before something else happens. It's going to be in one big jump."

Gaara said "But Kassan! You've already made five jumps."

Nekomi said "We have to get out of here. Our lives and freedom could depend on our getting out of here before that ninja wakes up." She turned to Naruto. "I'm going to need a little of your Chakra, ok?" He nodded and Naruto felt half of his chakra go away. He yawned. Nekomi picked them both up on her hips and held them as she did the handsigns "Inabikari no jutsu!" She was gone.

About an hour later...

The owner of a certain bar came back from lunch to see a silver haird man sitting slumped against the pole, but on a stool. He said "Hey, mister. It's too early to get that drunk." The man woke up after he poked him.

"Huh?" The main asked, slowly. "What happened?"

The owner thought 'How indecent, getting that drunk this early.' He said "I came back from lunch and found you here. How should I know? Now, are you going to order something?"

Kakashi's stomach growled. He had never gotten his food after all. He ordered some miso soup. The owner seemed more friendly after that. He said "How'd you end up like that? I would think ninja would have a higher tolerance for alcohol."

Kakashi said "I wasn't drinking."

"Sure..."

Kakashi was frustrated "No, you see, there was this woman..."

The owner guffawed "She must have been something! She work around here?"

Kakashi shook his head "It's not like that."

"Good enough to make you go after her seriously, that's impressive. I couldn't afford it though."

Kakashi said, frustrated "Can we drop it? I'm not in the mood to talk right now."

"What'd she do, leave you afterwards? You can always find her again, she does work around here?"

Kakashi yelled "It's not like that!"

The man said "I see. She's one of the travelling ones."

Kakashi gave in. "Yes, she's a traveller, alright. Now, is my miso ready?"

"Coming right up" The owner said with a smirk. Kakashi sighed.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII It was misty in Kiri, like it usually was, but not as bad as some days. Because of this, a young girl who had been out to pick herbs saw what looked like three bodies laying on the cold ground. She ran back to the clearing where her sensei was practicing. "Zabuza-san!"

The swordsman looked at the girl that he adopted and sighed "What is it now, Haku? Did you find another animal in a trap that you want for a pet? I told you, no more pets."

Haku shook her head. "It's people! There's two boys and a woman! They're out cold."

"So?"

"What if they're hurt, Zabuza-san?"

Zabuza sighed "Fine. Take me to them." Zabuza looked at the woman. She was beautiful with long black hair. The boys had brown hair, could they be brothers? Then he rubbed his eyes when he noticed a flicker and one of the boys suddenly had blond hair and marks on his cheeks and was half the age he had been before. "What the..."

Haku said "It appears to be genjutsu, Zabuza-san."

"I can see that." Now Zabuza was curious. Who were these people? As he noticed the woman had a sword, this only heightened his curiosity. He said "I don't know why I let you talk me into these things, Haku..." He picked up the boys over his shoulders and the woman bridal style. Boy, were the three of them heavy! He said "It's a good thing we live close to here..."

Haku was surprised. Usually Zabuza would not help people so readily. He must be curious about her. She smiled. She had noticed the sword too. Maybe this woman was a swordsman.

When they got to the house, Zabuza lay the woman on his bed. He had planned to put her on Haku's mat, but didn't at the last minute. He put the boys on her mat. He said "Check them out. Are they injured?" Zabuza took off the pack and jacket and put them beside the bed.

Haku had some practice in diagnosing injury, so she looked them over. She shook her head. "Just chakra depletion, but it's severe. It will probably be a week before they wake up."

Zabuza said "Great. What are we going to do with them for a week?" He was trying to get the sword off, but she kept moving, suddenly her eyes shot open, which freaked him out "No." She mumbled.

Haku said "I think she's still asleep Zabuza-san."

Zabuza let go of the sword and she relaxed and her eyes closed. "Geez..."

Haku asked "Where are you going to sleep, Zabuza-san?"

Zabuza said "There's enough room on the bed."

Haku asked "But what about the sword?"

Zabuza sweatdropped, then sighed and said "On the floor. You can sleep on your mat with the boys. The three of you can fit."

Haku nodded. She didn't mind sharing her mat. It would be warmer. Suddenly the red haired boy sat up with a groan and this freaked out both of them.

Gaara focused on these two. He had never really been fully unconscious, just almost. "Who are you?"

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII In case you were wondering, the reason why Zabuza saw Nekomi as she really looks is because her genjutsu dropped because she fell unconscious. Naruto's flickered out becasue his chakra went too low and the necklace has a safety feature to keep from killing the user. Gaara's fine because he didn't have as much of a chakra drain as either of them. 


	10. Chapter 10

I'm sorry, you guys. I've been forever in updating all of my fics, especially my DBZ ones, it's been almost two months with some of those. I'm just so incredibly busy nowadays, anyway, one more note, the time skip will be after another couple of chapters, I think. Now, onto the story.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

"Who are you?"

The man with the almost spiky black hair and the girl with long black hair looked at him in shock, which to their credit they seemed to have recovered from fairly quickly.

Zabuza said "Who are you?"

Gaara crossed his arms "I asked you first." He narrowed his eyes.

Zabuza said "Yeah, well you're in my house and I'd like to know why the three of you showed up out of nowhere while I was out training."

Gaara looked at the man. He looked like a fighter. He could see the muscles in his arms. He hadn't attacked, so presumably he wasn't an enemy, or he he was and he didn't know who they were yet. He didn't want to tell him with his Ototo and his Kassan unconscious. He said "I'm not telling you until my Kassan wakes up."

"That's your mother? How old are you?"

"Six." Then Gaara realized he may have just inadverdantly put his mother in danger. He frowned.

"Who's that other boy?"

Gaara frowned "None of your business."

Zabuza growled "Look kid, if I'm going to let ya stay in my house, I'm going to at least know who you are!"

Gaara looked back at his Kassan and Naruto again. What should he do? He frowned, uncomfortable. What should he do? He just noticed the man over his little brother. He stood in a defensive stance now as he rose "What's this?"

Zabuza had taken the necklace from around Naruto's neck. "What is this, boy?"

Haku looked at it too "A genjutsu necklace, Zabuza-san, I saw it a scroll once."

Zabuza's eyes widened. The clan famous for using these necklaces were...the black hair, green eyes, being a swordsman...it all added up to... but it couldn't be. "A wara?"

Gaara jumped, but Zabuza saw he had hit the nail on the head. "Your mom's a Wara, kid? Who's your dad?"

Gaara frowned. He said "My mother didn't give birth to me, or to my ototo. She found us. We are a family with stronger ties than blood!"

Zabuza noticed that the boy was ready to attack at any given notice. He said "Chill out, I'm not going to hurt her. Who are you then?"

Gaara narrowed his eyes, preparing himself for the rejection and fear he would soon be feeling from the man. "I am Sabaku no Gaara. I carry Shukaku."

Zabuza's eyes widened. He had heard of this boy. He was supposed to be a monster. He frowned. A monster, huh? A monster wasn't ready to throw away his life for his friends or family. "Who's the other boy?"

Gaara was shocked again as he didn't get the expected reaction. The girl, it seemed hadn't heard of him, but the man had. He said "That's it? Aren't you scared of me? I'm a monster!"

Zabuza said "A monster doesn't care for anyone. You would have come with me with every intention of killing me if I had hurt either of those two. That is not the behavior of a monster, sure the killing, but not to protect. Who's the other boy? I assume he's not your blook kin either?"

Gaara looked at the sleeping boy he considered his younger brother. He would tell him, after all, the chances were fairly good that if the nin had not attacked yet, he wouldn't attack now. He said "His name is Naruto Uzumaki, container of Kyuubi, the nine tailed fox."

Zabuza's eyes opened wider. He thought 'What have I gotten myself into?' He shook his head. "How did you three get here?"

Gaara said "We used a jutsu. It took a lot of energy out of kassan and ototo."

"But not you."

"Mom didn't use my energy." Gaara decided he would trust these two, at least until they gave him a reason to do otherwise.

Zabuza shook his head. They needed to get to bed if he and Haku were getting up to train in the morning. He said "We're going to go to bed now, you should get some sleep too."

Gaara nodded. He didn't tell the nin he couldn't sleep. Then he wouldn't know that he was keeping an eye on him. He lay down, but kept his head propped up where he could see.

Gaara had been lulled into a peacful state by the sound of the rain that was falling, that was until a pot fell over. He jumped up. He heard sounds of a struggling, instantly a light was turned on and the man was up and the girl, but it was his Kassan who had made the noise. She was now on the floor, tangled in a blanket. She was thrashing in her sleep. "No!" She cried out.

"Kassan! What's wrong?" Naruto woke up too, seeming to sense that something was wrong, even though he was groggy. He snapped out of it when he saw Nekomi, though.

"Kassan!" He went over and shook her like Gaara was "Wake up, Kassan!"

Nekomi thrashed about mumbling "dare attack my family...damn intruders..." Then her voice went from one of anger to one of horror. She screamed "Dai, Ryoku, Shin! Oh God, not you too!!" She screamed "Dai!..."

Then she paused for a minute, her body shaking as tears ran down her face. She whispered "Dead...so many dead...so many." Then angry again "Kill me, Snake-teme, I'll kill you!" Then she made a gurgling noise and seemed to pass out again.

Naruto and Gaara were panicking.

Naruto cried "What do we do?"

"I don't know."

"What's going on?!"

"I don't know!"

Haku asked "Is her head hot?"

They looked at her, shellshocked still, but then Naruto put a hand on his Kassan's forehead and nodded.

Haku said "She has a fever. It could be causing a nightmare. You should put something cool on her forehead." She went off to the bathroom and came back in a minute with a wet cloth. She gave it to Naruto who put it on his Kassan's head.

"Thanks." Both he and Gaara turned back to their Kassan. They knelt beside her. She was shaking. They hugged her.

Zabuza frowned. What had all that been about? They couldn't very well get back to sleep now. Haku was heading towards the kitchen. "Haku, what are you doing now?"

"I'm going to make some soup. It'll help." She dissapeared into the kitchen. Zabuza sighed. His life had sure gotten complicated now. He looked at the boys, the concern they had shown for that woman was real, they were no monsters. He had seen monsters. He had even been one before he had met Haku and she had changed him. He said "She should be back up on the bed where it's more comfortable." The boys let him pick her up, but Gaara frowned. Zabuza noticed he was ready to attack again. It would take a while to earn the trust of that one. He lay her on the bed, then didn't know what to do with himself. Soon Haku came in.

She said "Someone needs to prop her up and feed her. I can feed her..."

Gaara's sand came up behind Nekomi's back and lifted her. Haku climbed onto the bed with the soup, spilling a few drops on the sheets. Naruto climbed up to her left. Haku asked "Can you open her mouth and then close it when I put the soup in?"

Naruto nodded. Nekomi coughed at the first bit, but took the rest. Then Gaara let her back down and put the cloth on her forehead again. Hours later, they still sat up watching her, they didn't mean to fall asleep. Gaara was even lulled into a state of half consciousness until the morning.

The thing that woke them all up in the morning was a loud groan.

Nekomi woke up weakly with something wet on her head laying on something soft "Where am I?" Suddenly both Naruto and Gaara were on top of her.

"Kassan! You're ok" "You're better!"

Nekomi asked "Better?"

Gaara said "You had a fever."

Naruto said "And a nightmare."

Zabuza spoke up "And you're in my house." He yawned, not able to keep it in. He had been disturbed in the middle of the night afterall.

Nekomi looked at him. "Kiri...we're in kiri?"

"Yep, sorta. Outside Kiri really."

"Who are you?"

"Zabuza Momoichi and this is Haku. Your son told me about you three."

Nekomi looked at Gaara in surprise, but didn't say anything, she did say "So, I'm not dead. That mean we're allies?"

Zabuza shook his head at this woman and said "I'd have to be crazy not to be, besides, if I wasn't your ally, I'd be your enemy and then I'd end up entombed by flame head over there."

Gaara scowled at this nickname..

Nekomi said "Good." She continued to lay back. "That's good."

Naruto asked "Aren't you going to get up, Kassan?" He frowned.

Nekomi chuckled "Not enough energy yet. Just enough to be awake."

Naruto held out his hands "I can give you some more!"

Nekomi shook her head "Not enough energy to do that. Need food."

Naruto and Gaara frowned at seeing their Kassan so weak again. Zabuza turned to go out. Haku asked "Where are you going, Zabuza-san?"

"To catch some fish. We'll need breakfast. Make some rice, Haku." He sighed. "It looks like we'll be having houseguests for a while."

"Hai, Zabuza-san."

Before the man went out the door, Nekomi said in a voice just loud enough for him to hear "Nice sword."

He paused, then smiled slightly, "Back at ya." He left.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII So, what do you guys think? Good chapter? 


	11. Chapter 11

Wow, I'm updating so soon, right? It's a miracle. Heh, anyway, onto the chapter. I promise I'll try to get openoffice soon so I can dispense with the symbols.

A week had passed. After the first day Nekomi had been up and helping, but she hadn't had enough energy to fight until today. She stretched. Zabuza was training Haku like usual and Nekomi had let the boys start training with them.

She had talked to Zabuza at length during that week, he had opened up to her. She had learned of his plans to overthrow the Mizukage yesterday. It troubled her. He wasn't strong enough to defeat the Mizukage and his guard by himself. He would get killed or at least run out of Mist. She had been thinking it over since he had told her, but now she stretched. Zabuza was waiting for her this morning after his warm up with Haku. It was going to be their first spar. She walked up to him. He cracked his knuckles when she was in front of him

"'Bout time."

"You ready for this?"

"For the past week."

Nekomi chuckled "You better watch out for that ego of yours, Zabuza." She paused and cracked her neck "Now, for the rules. How should we do this? Hand to hand, with weapons, with jutsus...?" She let the sentence hang.

Zabuza said, with a grin, "Anything goes."

Nekomi grinned back. All the more fun that way. "Whoever's left standing in five minutes wins."

"Haku, you keep time." Zabuza called to his adopted daughter.

"Hai, Zabuza-san." Haku pulled a timer out of her kimono top and set it "Start!" They did.

Nekomi raised her arms in an x-block to Zabuza's strike to her head then twisted to avoid his blow to her side. The sleeves of her kimono top billowed as she struck at the man with quick jabs. He also dodged, alternating with catching her arms and trying to throw her. Afer a few minutes of this they drew their swords simutaneously and started off with those.

On the sidelines..

Naruto said "Kaasan's already got her sword out and it's only a minute and a half."

Haku said "Zabuza is one of the seven swordsmen. Swords are his specialty."

Naruto said "Yeah, well mom's speciality is everything!"

Haku said in a voice half doubtful/half scornful "Is that even possible?"

Naruto cried "You better believe it!"

Haku frowned and looked back at the fight "Well, Zabuza-san's still going to win in swords."

Clangs were heard all over the field as the swords clashed, the blurs matching each other blow for blow.

Minutes left: 2

Nekomi grinned as she watched Zabuza, both of them had paused, analyzing each other's moves. She could tell Zabuza was trying hard not to breath heavy, but he was wearing down. "Change of tactics?" Zabuza dissapeared and a heavy mist rolled in.

"Kirigakure no Justu!" Zabuza attacked, but Nekomi dodged easily.

"Kage Bushin no Justu!"

Zabuza growled "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" His clones matched her clones. He could see from the way she had dodged that she didn't have any trouble sensing him, as expected of a Wara, but still...it was kind of annoying. Their clones battled each other until they were all gone.

Haku, Naruto and Gaara blinked. Where had they gone?

Zabuza looked out onto the field from his perch in a tree. Where had she gone?

Nekomi stood in the middle of the field, highly amused. She had used her invivibility technique. She waited for Zabuza to walk back to the field, which he did, cautiously, deciding it would be better if he was out in the open where he could see her before she attacked. He was just within her reach and she had reached out to strike when there was a loud ringing. It startled her so much that she fell onto Zabuza who jumped out of his skin seeing her appear out of nowhere and fall on him, so needless to say he fell over too and they toppled.

Nekomi blushed at the position she had found herself in on the ground. They had become tangled. Zabuza coughed embarassed, Nekomi noticed a blush on his face too. He helped her up. "Uh, Good spar."

"Yeah."

Zabuza shook his head, trying to put the incident out of his mind. "What was that jutsu you used?"

The change of topic helped Nekomi to get her mind off it too. She said "An invivibility jutsu."

"Ah."

"Yeah..."

Zabuza said "Let me help you pick up your kunai..."

"Thanks."

They got their weapons back together and went back to the house where Nekomi made lunch. After lunch...

"Zabuza," Her voice had turned serious.

"Hai?" He asked with a mouthful of rice, then swallowed.

Nekomi paused, should she talk about it now? It needed to be brought up before he did something rash. She paused "About your plan...I was curious...are there any other people, nin or otherwise who feel the same way you do?"

Zabuza nodded "They're not the type to do anything about it though, one other swordsman, a couple of nin and a dozen civillians."

Nekomis sweatdropped "That's not a lot."

Zabuza said "People are afraid of the bastard."

There was an uncomfortable pause then Nekomi came out with it "Zabuza, you can't take on a Kage yourself."

"The bastard's not as strong as he looks."

"What about his guard? Will you take them alone too? You'll die!"

Zabuza growled and turned on her "Then fight with me!"

Nekomi cried "I can't! If I do, I run the risk of losing my family all over again and if He finds me out..." Zabuza growled at her. They had unconsciously gotten back into fighting positions again.

Zabuza yelled "You just going to run away again? Or stay here and cry like a coward?!"

Nekomi noticed a growl rising in her own throat. She said "I have more than myself to think about! What about the children! Should I leave them to die?!"

Zabuza yelled "Fear holds you back from this fight! You are afraid to die! You are afraid of the sannin! You are a coward!"

Nekomi began to see red. She said in a low voice "Take that back. I fought with everything I had to save my family. Everything I had, damn it!" Her chakra began to flow around her and lift up her hair and clothes. It began to swirl and became visible.

Zabuza was feeling the killing intent coming from her now and it made him forget his own anger. 'Crap, she's mad. Damn, I remember now, Wara's have tempers that could level a city...I'm in trouble...' She ran at him at a speed at least twice as fast as they had used during their spar. She struck at him with chakra enhanced blows and most of them hit, he could barely block her at all with her speed. He was losing, quickly. He said "I'm sorry, Nekomi. I didn't mean it!" He coughed up some blood.

Nekomi saw only red, all of her senses went dim as she was in berzerker mode. She knew nothing but rage.

Haku saw that this was a serious fight and that something was wrong. Nekomi could kill Zabuza. She ran out onto the field to protect her adopted father. She stood in front of him.

Zabuza cried "No, Haku! Get out of the way!" Nekomi yelled in rage as her hand plunged towards his chest. Then suddenly she was caught by something hard. She yelled once again, but wasn't released. She looked for the source. She stopped struggling as she focused.

Gaara had tears falling as he held her back with his sand "Kassaan! Stop it!" Nekomi shook her head with a now confused look in her eyes.

Naruto cried "Kassan! Snap out of it! Don't be mad anymore!" Nekomi looked at him too, then she collapsed to her knees.

Zabuza looked at the woman who had collapsed in front of him. If the fight had gone on for any longer she would have killed him easily, in less than five minutes. He knew that kage wasn't as strong as her, but still... Maybe she was right, maybe he wasn't strong enough to defeat the Mizukage...He frowned and coughed as he got to his feet. He went over to Nekomi.

Nekomi groaned. What had just happened. She got up. "Why do I feel like my head's going to explode?"

Zabuza asked "How much do you remember?"

Nekomi said "I was talking to you about battle tactics for the invasion..."

Zabuza said "Nothing after that?"

Nekomi narrowed her eyes. "Tell me what happened."

Zabuza looked uncomfortable. He said "Er...I said some things and you got mad and..."

Nekomi said "And I went into berzerker mode..." She paused "Okay, that's odd. That only gets activated in cases when one feels extreme rage against someone...I'll go into playback mode..."

Zabuza cried "Wait!"

Nekomi opened her eyes. "What?"

Zabuza said "Um, you won't go into 'berzerker mode' again when you look, will you?"

"No."

"Good..." She closed her eyes again.

"Wait!"

Nekomi developed a tic above her eye. "What now?"

Zabuza looked down "Uh...just...I'm sorry for what I said ok? I didn't mean it..."

Nekomi thought over his words, wondering what he had to be sorry about, then she closed her eyes and looked into her subconscious. She replayed what had happened.

When she came out of it she had a scowl on her face.

Zabuza saw it and got nervous again. He started babbling "Did I mention I'm sorry? I was mad, you were mad, let's forget that ever happened..." He was holding his hands up and waving them back and forth with a nervous smile as he backed away.

Nekomi lost the scowl in favor of a curious expression. "I don't think that my being angry made you not be angry anymore. Did you change your mind?"

Zabuza said "I realized...maybe you're right..."

Nekomi smiled. "Then I have a plan, but we'll discuss it inside." He went in before her. She looked at Gaara and Naruto, then picked them up and hugged them. She whispered "I'm sorry. Thank you Gaara, Naruto, for snapping me out of it." She put them down and ruffled their hair with a smile. She turned to Haku "I'm proud of you Haku. You stood up for Zabuza when he was down. You'll make a fine Shinobi." They went into the house.

Zabuza said "Now, what's the plan?"

Nekomi said "You need to be healed first." She healed him.

"Now the plan."

Nekomi rolled her eyes and turned toward him "Okay, listen..."

So, read and review as always. Ja ne. 


	12. Chapter 12

Sorry it's been a while since I've updated, but I've been busy or sick for the past few weeks and it's been hard finding the time. I wrote this on Spring Break. Anyway, onto the story...

Nekomi said "You need to be healed first." She healed him.

"Now the plan."

Nekomi rolled her eyes and turned toward him "Okay, listen. I had been thinking about this since you told me about your plans yesterday and I have around two dozen people that I can contribute."

Zabuza raised an eyebrow "Contribute to what, exactly?"

Nekomi said "I'm getting to that. Now, I know what I'm about to say isn't probably what you're expecting to hear, but hear me out."

Zabuza frowned. "Come out with it already, what's your plan?"

Nekomi sighed, knowing the swordsman wouldn't like the idea, but it was the best one she could come up with. She said "I plan on creating a new village."

Zabuza's reaction was about what she had expected. He stood up with an angry look on his face "What! You're just going to run away! And build a village? With how many people? You can't just make a village, just like that. It takes years. What do we do until then?"

Nekomi held up her hands "It will not be running away. It will be creating a village that will draw people away from Mist and it will, in a few years time, become a challenge to the village and the kage."

Now Zabuza looked confused. He sat down then he scowled and said sarcastically "Oh, I see, so a village made up of a few dozen people that has just been built will be a challenge to a village that has been established for generations with a shinobi army."

Nekomi frowned. She said "It will not take more than a month to construct the village."

Zabuza looked at her disbelievingly. "That's not possible, besides,what about food? It takes a while to grow crops unless you plan on getting it all f rom another village or town. Where are you planing on building this village anyway?"

Nekomi asked "Do you know of anywhere that has natural defenses against invasion and isn't currently inhabited?"

Zabuza paused for a minute, then said "No." But Nekomi had seen he had come up with something before disregarding it.

She said "What? You thought of something."

"It wouldn't work."

"Well, what is it?"

He scowled when she repeated herself and said, louder "It wouldn't work."

"Just go ahead and tell me already." Nekomi said with a slightly raised voice, annoyed that he didn't answer the first time.

He said, also annoyed, "Fine. The only area I can think of like that is an area that is almost completely cliffs. A village couldn't be built there."

"Says who? Do you know what it looks like? Have you been there?"

"Says me. I was there a few years back when I was exploring Water."

"Can you show me?"

Zabuza frowned. He said "You mean you want to do that mindsharing thing again? You know that weirds me out." He crossed his arms.

Nekomi said "But I need to know what it looks like if I want to jump there."

"You mean use that teleportation jutsu of yours?" She nodded.

Nekomi asked "How far away is it?"

Zabuza thought for a few minutes. "200 miles, roughly."

Nekomi thought. She could do that in a couple of jumps, she reasoned. "Okay, I'll have to go check it out once you show me. It's close enough to go and come back in one day, although I think I'll wait until tomorrow."

Zabuza stressmarked "It's a cliff. You can't build a village into a cliff."

"Who says?"

Zabuza said "I do! It's not humanly possible!"

Nekomi said "It is too, with a few earth jutsus and explosion jutsus."

Zabuza frowned, surprised. Did she have people in rock country or Konoha? "Your people know earth jutsus?"

Nekomi said "I know a few and..." She made a tally in her head "4..of the people I know also know some."

Zabuza frowned. He said "A village made out of a few dozen people is not going to be a challenge to a village the size of Mist."

Nekomi said "Firstly, the Village hidden by the Sunset will only start out with around three to four dozen people. I expect it to pick up quite a few new members. Secondly, all the members of this village will be a ninja of one of three classses. There will be no civilians in Banshougakure."

Zabuza sweatdropped. 'She already named the village. The village hidden in the sunset sounds kind of cool, actually. Gah, what am I thinking? It's impossible."

Nekomi smiled "Glad to see you like the name, Zabuza."

Zabuza jumped "Gah, did you read my mind again? Don't do that!" Nekomi chuckled. Zabuza then rebmembered what she had said earlier. "How do you expect to get new members? And what about no civilians? What about the civilians I know?"

Nekomi explained "Civilians will become ninja. It will be one of the requirements to joining the village. Also, I plan to let missing nins and displaced or unsatisfied civilians become part of the village, if they are deemed worthy."

Zabuza frowned "If you let these people in, how will you keep the village a secret? You'll have to give them directions? What if they make it to the Mizukage."

Nekomi smiled "You're going to have to readjust your perspective on the possibilities of the human being, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza said "You're talking weird again, Nekomi." Nekomi chuckled.

She said "I meant that people are more capable than you give them credit for. Now, to answer your question, I will not be giving out sets of directions. I will be sending summons and self-sustaining clones to do the recruiting for me."

Zabuza frowned "Self-sustaining clones?"

Nekomi smiled "One of the jutsus I came up with. They can gather chakra from their environments and from enemies and they can last apart from me for up to a year, but I can dispell them at will and with concentration, I can see through their eyes as my chakra remains tied to theirs."

Zabuza shook his head "They can think on their own and perform jutsus?"

"Yes. They are only dispelled if they take a lot of damage. Which is unlikely, because they'll have the same capacities for stealth as I do." Upon seeing Zabuza's look, she said "They'll be able to use my teleporting technique, the invisibility technique, stuff like that."

Zabuza said "You said you'd be sending summons too." He looked at her. "What are you going to summon? Cats? Aren't cats only summoned by the Wara clan?"

Nekomi frowned "I will only be using cats of the type that are the right size to be found in nature, so they would not be automatically recognized as summons." Then she smiled "I see you accept my idea, Zabuza-san."

Zabuza jumped in surprise, then he jumped up and pointed accusingly at her "I did not think that!"

Nekomi smiled "Not directly, but you went from thinking it's impossible to that it might work. That's as close to acceptance as I'm going to get."

Zabuza frowned and grumbled. Nekomi said "Aw, what's the matter, Zabuza?" She teased.

He mumbled "Still don't think it's going to work."

Nekomi smiled "Keep thinking that, Zabuza. Now, show me the cliffs."

Zabuza grumbled "Pushy woman."

Nekomi smiled "Now, put your hands up and clear your mind like I showed you."

He sighed, but did as she asked. It was easier to go along with her. He soon felt himself sucked back into his mind and they were in a dark room. He had not gone into his memories yet. He concentrated.

Nekomi took the information as he gave it to her. She felt a slight tug, but ignored it, in favor of the information.

Zabuza finished showing her, then he cut it off like she had shown him too and they both went back to the conscious world. Zabuza then felt himself hit with a memory. It felt like he was in it, it was so realistic. He was in a clan compound. There was death all around. He seemed to be tied to a person who was looking at the scene. Suddenly he was running. The death increased as they reached a building. As they entered the first room, many grey haired people in robes were dead. "No! Toussan!"

Zabuza recognized the voice. It was Nekomi's. Was this one of her memories? He could feel the pain she was feeling. She kept running, going upstairs. She growled "How dare they attack us, my people, my family..." They she opened a door and on the floor lay a man and two boys. She ran over to them and fell to her knees beside them. "No...Dai, Ryoku, Shin! Oh God, not you too!" She picked up the body of the man laying on the floor and screamed "Dai..." He could feel wetness running down the face. Tears, he realized. She ran outside upon seeing a shadow running away. She would avenge her family. She soon came face to face with a man with long black hair and yellow eyes. She recognized him almost instantly."Oorochimaru! You did this!"

He said, with an annoyed look, "You took out my army. It's going to take me a while to replace them."

She cried "Why did you kill them?"

He said "If you survive, maybe I'll tell you." He smiled.

Nekomi growled. How dare the teme smile? She screamed "You Bastard! I'll kill you!" She fought him for a couple of minutes, winning until he performed a jutsu that was almost too fast to be registered. "Shinkei Inmetsu no Jutsu!" He felt a pain unlike anything he had felt before and he saw a new view of the ground. Then he felt like he was being stabbed over and over again, but he couldn't move, although he could see blood dripping onto the ground through blurred eyes. He was in pain everywhere, but especially in his chest, then all went black. He gasped and opened his eyes. He blinked at the brightness.

Nekomi was looking at him. She frowned, concerned "Is something wrong? It took you longer to wake up than usual." She gave him a hand up. He took it, too disoriented to refuse like he usually would.

He shook his head. That must have been a memory. He wasn't in pain anymore, but it had been so real. Were his memories this real when she got them? He said "I'm fine. Did you get what you were looking for?"

"Hai.Are you sure you're alright?"

Zabuza frowned "I'm fine, geez." Nekomi smiled, seeing him acting back to normal. Zabuza thought 'Should I tell her that I saw one of her memories? It's so private...I must have seen it by mistake. I'm sure she didn't send it to me. What if she misunderstands and thinks I took it? I don't want her to be mad at me again...I'll tell her later. He said "What now?"

Nekomi said "It will be dark soon. I'll check out the cliffs tomorrow."

Naruto and Gaara said "Me too."

Nekomi looked down at them with a slight frown. Would it be safe to take them with her? One one hand, she would be going into unkown territory. That wasn't a safe situation. Also, although Zabuza thought her plan might work, she was worried that he might do something to jepordize the plan, whether on purpose or by accident.

On the other hand, she could keep an eye on them if they were with her. She weighed the pros and cons and decided it didn't take that much more energy to carry four people with her than it did to go by herself. She'd still be able to make it there and back in the same day. She paused "I will only take someone with me if all of us go." She looked at Zabuza and Haku.

Zabuza frowned "Why do you want us to go?"

Nekomi said "You should get a look at the place where I'm planning on building the village. Also, I thought it'd be a nice change. We'll get some sunshine and we can stop by the town that's 30 miles away and get some dinner on the way back."

Zabuza sensed there was something more to it, but he let it pass. He owed her from the accident. He shrugged. "I guess. Haku's never seen the cliffs. What time do you want to go tomorrow?"

Nekomi frowned slightly at the man being so submissive to her request. It was unlike him, but she ignored it, glad that it had gone so easily. "Early. After breakfast...about 7."

"Okay." He shrugged. Nekomi was bothered more by it now. The time would cut into his training time. She had expected him to negotiate the time, but she let it slide again. She'd confront him about it later.

Soon it was dark and soon they went to bed. Nekomi was on the floor with the boys. Zabuza had tried once to offer her his bed since she got well, but she wouldn't take it and he hadn't tried after that. She had one mat that she shared with Haku, and the boys shared the other.

Gaara frowned as he watched out over his little family. He had wanted to talk to his kassan, but he didn't have the time. He had questions to ask her. He watched her sleep. He sighed.

Nekomi called softly "Is there something wrong, Gaara-chan?"

Gaara's eyes widened as he whispered back "I thought you were asleep."

"I was, then I woke up for a little while. Do you want to talk about it?"

Gaara crawled over the sleeping Naruto and was beside Nekomi. He sat. Nekomi sat up and took him inter her lap. "Now, talk to me."

He looked down and blushed. "Ano...it's not that important, kassan..."

Nekomi frowned, saddened again by how this boy had never had someone to show concern for him. She said "Gaara-kun, if you ever have anything to talk to me about, or ask me, I'm here. Don't ever think that it's not important enough to talk with me about, ok?"

Gaara nodded. He said "I..had some questions that I didn't get to ask you before."

Nekomi nodded "Ask them."

Gaara said "Why did you name the village banshougakure? Is it after the name you gave me?"

"Your new name gave me the idea, yes. That's not all that's bothering you."

Gaara looked down again. "I..."

"Yes."

Gaara looked at her with tears forming in his eyes. "I want to be able to sleep like you and ototo!"

Nekomi looked at the boy in guilt. She had promised to look at his seal, but he was so quiet, and uninsisting...She had put it off. She asked, quietly, "Do you want me to look at your seal, Gaara-chan?"

Gaara nodded. "Ever since I saw what a dream could be like...I want to have dreams too!" He had tears falling now.

Nekomi's heart clenched at his pain. 'I'm so sorry, Gaara...' She tried to smile, but she could tell she was failing. She said "I'll look at it, we'll fix the seal, okay?"

Gaara nodded. Nekomi asked "Do you remember the mind sharing technique?" He nodded again. "It will be like that. Close your eyes, clear your mind and relax for me, okay?" He nodded and closed his eyes. Nekomi waited a moment, then put one hand on his head and another on his stomach and went in.

Gaara's mind was in a turmoil, worse than Nekomi had thought. It was dark, just light enough to see and it seemed like a cave. Except it seemed as if there was a storm going on. All he had protecting him was a thin barrier that he had created since they had met. She walked around, getting battered by the wind and rain and soon came face to face with the racoon demon.

I plan on having the next chapter out fairly sooner than this one. Until then, Ja ne. 


	13. Chapter 13

Sorry you guys. I know I keep updating later than I said I would, but it can't be helped. Now, here's the next chapter. Hope it makes the long wait worthwhile.

NGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZH

When Nekomi met the Tanuki eye to eye, the rain stopped and suddenly it started to heat up. Shukaku growled "Human! You have no business here! Leave!"

Nekomi had to brace herself from flying back. She was still pushed back a few feet by the wind the demon blew her way when he shouted at her. She scowled back up at the ichibi. She said "I will tell you my business here. It is to help my son! Where is he?" Nekomi frowned. A mental image of Gaara should be around here somewhere in his mind. If there wasn't...things might be too bad for her to fix. She looked around and in relief, she saw a small form in the corner. "Gaara!"

When the boy turned to her, she could see how clearly how battered he was. He was a mess and tears streamed down his face. He looked utterly terrified. She could see him shaking in his hunched position and it made her heart clench. She reached out, but the sand cut her off. Nekomi scowled deeper and she snarled "Tanuki!" She ran towards the demon, dodging sand spikes and the wind as best as possible. She flew through handsigns, only pausing to strike the air around Shukaku as she dodged. She snarled "Ori no seishou!"

Suddenly a box of dark green energy appeared around the ichibi. Nekomi clutched her bleeding arm and side. Shukaku howled "Damn human! Let me out of here! You can't contain me!"

Nekomi ran over to the crying Gaara and hugged him tightly "Gaara-chan!"

"Kaasan!" Gaara hugged her back, still scared. He gripped tighter and cried "Don't leave! He'll get out again!"

Nekomi answered "I have to go now, I'll come back in in a little bit, ok?" When Gaara loosened his grip, Nekomi left. Outside, Nekomi flew through hundreds of handsigns. Her hands glowed a dark green with black energy at her fingertips taking the shape of kanji.

"Kaasan! What are you doing?!" Naruto cried. His cry woke up everyone else, except Gaara, who was in a state of semi-consciousness.

Nekomi ordered "Naruto, take off your brother's shirt."

"Why?"

"Do it now!" Naruto yelped and did it. Nekomi struck Gaara's stomach with her right hand and he convulsed. Nekomi held him down until he stopped and then did a few more handsigns and spread her fingers wide and struck Gaara again, this time with her left hand. Then a black circle appeared with five kanji outside of it. Nekomi thought 'The cage is made, the seals are on it. Now, I just have to shut him in there. For that I must go back in.'

Zabuza asked "What are you doing?!"

"Fixing the seal!" She went back in and Zabuza caught her as she fell. As he did, he felt himself pulled away as well.

He opened his eyes to find himself in a dark, hot place with Nekomi a few feet in front of him and across from them both a racoon demon caged by energy. 'Is this what's in that boy? Where am I?' He looked at Nekomi, but she didn't seem to notice him.

Shukaku roared "You will not seal me in, human! No human can restrain me!"

Nekomi smirked "Tell that to the Kyuubi, Ichibi," She taunted.

Shukaku howled and Zabuza was thrown back. Nekomi finally noticed him and yelled, to be heard over Shukaku, "How did you get here?"

Zabuza yelled back "I got pulled in!"

"You aren't trained in this! Get out!"

Zabuza stressmarked "I don't know how!"

Nekomi was frustrated. Zabuza wouldn't be much of a help in here. She said "Try to dodge and take as little damage as possible then and I'll take you out when I'm done."

"Done with what?"

"Putting Shukaku into his cage."

Zabuza looked at her in disbelief "You think you can..."

Nekomi turned back towards him and hissed "Do not doubt me!" She turned to the Ichibi and said "Those who underestimate me die, demon!" She exerted her will and killer intent to push the tanuki back into the cage.

The killer intent was the greatest that Zabuza had ever felt. It almost imobilized him. He could barely breath, however it didn't seem to have the same effect on the demon.

Shukakau growled "Puny human! I am a demon! I am not afraid of you!"

Nekomi saw he was afraid though. She smirked, then saw Zabuza suffering from the effects of her killer intent. "Snap out of it, Zabuza. It's only going to get worse and I can't spare the concentration to let you out right now!" She sent her focus back to pushing the demon back. She muttered "Kaze..." She gathered wind around her and she began to rise. Her hair began to float and her clothes began to whip about. She sent the full force of it at the tanuki who was now franctically trying to break out of the holding cage.

Just as the blast was about to hit, he roared and broke free. He countered her blast with a blast of his own. "Damn it!" Nekomi thought fast. She wouldn't be able to contain him like she had before. He wouldn't let her get close again. He had power here. Maybe in the physical world, she could have done something, but it was all about the force of will here, really, and she could feel the demon loosing his fear of her. She wouldn't be able to influence him by herself, but there was another person who had control here. Gaara. "Gaara!"

Suddenly the boy was in her arms, shaking "Put him in a box again!"

"I can't."

Gaara's voice shook "W..What?"

Nekomi said gently "You have to do it this time."

Gaara shook his head fiercely "No! I can't!" He tried to shrink in on himself.

Nekomi took his shoulders and said "You have to. I'll help you. You can do it!"

"I can't..."

Nekomi held up his chin so he would look at her "Yes, you can. You're strong."

"No I'm not." He tried to look away, with tears in his eyes.

Nekomi wouldn't let him. She cried "Yes, you are! I believe in you, Gaara!" Gaara gasped. No one had ever said that to him before. Nekomi continued "I know you cando this. This is YOUR mind. YOU have powere here. More than any of the rest of us, including Shukaku."

"But..."

Nekomi started "He can't..." Suddenly Shukaku struck Nekomi with another blast. She got in front of Gaara to shield him. She grunted when it hit. It had small spikes in it this time.

"Kaasan!"

"Gaara, he can't kill you!" She coughed blood at the next attack the tanuki sent. It had bigger spikes than before. She coughed "He'll die if he kills you. Don't let him hurt you anymore. Put him in his cage!" Nekomi pushed down the pain so she could stay standing to protect Gaara from the next attack. She couldn't take much more of this.

Gaara looked at her. He was still terrified, but now half the fear was of loosing his kaasan. He whispered "What do I do?"

Nekomi whispered back "See the cage?" Gaara nodded. Nekomi's body shook as she suppressed another cough. "You have to make him go in it."

"How?" Gaara asked.

"Imagine it and it will be."

"I can't."

"Yes you can! You just have to calm down." Nekomi couldn't take it any longer and she fell over. The tanuki took this moment to strike.

"Kaasan! No!" Gaara shook and a field formed around him. He looked at the demon "You hurt my kaasan."

Shukaku grew nervous. The boy had never stood up to him before and he did have the ability to imprision him in the cage. He couldn't kill him without dieing, that's why he had resorted to scaring him all this time. Maybe it was time to change tactics. He cackled, then said in a calmer voice that almost sounded human "Gaara."

Gaara frowned "You hurt my kaasan. You're bad! Go away!" Gaara closed his eyes and thought as hard as he could about putting the ichibi into the cage. Shukaku felt himself being pushed back "No!" he said "No, Gaara, I'm your real mother. Remember how I've protected you?!"

Gaara paused, then said "No. No! The person you hurt is my mother! She showed she loves me. You only hurt people!"

"To protect you."

Gaara cried "You're a liar!"

Shukaku cried "You would have died if I hadn't protected you!"

Gaara paused again and looked at Nekomi. She looked up at him. She had heard the whole conversation with the demon. She said "Trust your heart, Gaara. I trust you. I love you...my son." She fell back down onto her stomach, not able to support herself at all anymore. She was starting to fade.

Gaara looked with tearing eyes at his mother, then with angry ones at the racoon. He cried "She is my mother! Even though she just me me, she shows me love, something you never have! You want me to kill! You don't love me! You are not my mother! Go to your cage!" Gaara pushed with all his strength and the tanuki was shoved into the cage, wailing. Then the door shut with a clang and several seals on the cage flared up then revealed themselves as black kanji on the notes attached to the bars.

Zabuza was the first to wake up.He felt a heavy weight on him and he groaned as he opened his eyes. His legs felt like they were in pieces. They had been broken in that place and he had been cut up, but he didn't see any blood now. He looked down. Nekomi and Gaara were on top of him. Nekomi stirred next. She groaned and said in a voice barely above a whisper "Phantom pain...Ow...It'll take a day of meditation to get rid of this..." She saw Gaara who had collapsed into her lap waking up. She smiled, then she noticed she wasn't flat on the floor. She turned and saw Zabuza behind her. They locked eyes and blushed. Nekomi got off and scooted a little away, to give him room.

Naruto cried "What happened?"

Nekomi said "I just fixed your brother's seal. It's ok now. We should all get back to sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."

Zabuza asked, incredulous, "Don't tell me you're still going to the cliffs tomorrow?!"

Nekomi said "Yep, so let's go back to sleep."

"You can't be serious."

Nekomi said, tiredly, "Do you doubt me?" She looked him in the eyes.

That shocked Zabuza, remembering the last time he had heard that. He had never seen someone so strong. He smiled "No, I don't. Not anymore."

Haku asked "What happened?"

Zabuza said "I'll explain later. Let's get some more sleep. We've got a busy day tomorrow."

NGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZHNGNZH

So, RandR and I'll catch you guys later. Sorry again that it's been a while since I've updated. 


	14. Chapter 14

There will be a time skip as soon as the village is established, for those of you who have been wondering, but that won't be for a few chapters. I will try my hardest to keep this fic centered on Nekomi, Gaara, Naruto, Zabuza and Haku though and not to let it stray off of them too much with OCs. Oh yeah, a note, in my story, all that bad stuff happened to Haku when she was six and Zabuza found her soon after and she has been with him for a year. If that's inconsistant with what I've said before, let me know.

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They got back onto their mats, except Zabuza called Haku over so Nekomi could be alone to talk with the boys. Naruto was sitting beside Nekomi and Gaara was on the other side, collapsed against Nekomi's lap.

Naruto whispered "You all passed out. Are you ok?"

"Yes." Nekomi looked at Gaara who was starting to wake up. "Gaara-chan?"

Gaara whispered, hoarsely "Kaasan, you're ok."

"Yes." Nekomi answered with a smile.

He looked up at her "Did I do it?"

"Yes, you did a great job." And she was proud. He had been able to push the demon back like she couldn't. Even though it was his mind, he had to habe been strong to do that.

Gaara looked down "Did you..."

Nekomi smiled "I meant every word I said, Gaara."

Gaara smiled. Nekomi hugged him, then reached out and hugged Naruto too. Then she let go "Now, go to sleep, my boys." Gaara looked at her. He still looked a little nervous.

Nekomi said, softly "Gaara-kun, you can sit up for a few minutes with me, you go on to sleep, Naruto-kun."

"Can't I stay up too?"

"No, now go on."

"Awww..." Naruto went on to the mat. Nekomi sat on her mat with Gaara.

Gaara said, quietly "I've been scared to go to sleep before now, I...what if something happens?"

Nekomi said "He can't take you over when you sleep anymore. You're safe."

"Promise?"

"Yes, the seal is a strong one. And besides, if something did happen, I'd take care of it."

Gaara paused, then looked back at Nekomi "What should I dream about?" He asked, seeming kind of embarassed.

Nekomi said "Think about nice things."

"Like swinging?"

"Like swinging."

"How do I dream?"

Nekomi smiled, though it was a sad one. Poor boy. She said "You just relax and think of good thoughts until you fall asleep, then you'll dream. You don't have to do anything."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

"Can I..." Gaara looked uncomfortable.

Nekomi guessed his request. She said "You can stay here with me until you fall asleep, then I'll put you on the mat, ok?" Gaara nodded. Nekomi let him put his head back in her lap and she stroked it until he fell asleep then put him back on the mat with Naruto.

She then sighed softly. Poor boy, what the both of them must have gone through. She looked up to see Zabuza looking at her. She started, then whispered "You're still awake?"

He chuckled softly "You're insane, you know that? I've never met anyone like you."

She whispered back "I probably am. Let me fix that phantom pain for you." She walked over quietly and put one hand on Zabuza's forehead and the other on his leg and closed her eyes. Zabuza did too. A few minutes later, Zabuza noticed that the pain was gone.

He whispered, surprised "But we didn't go anywhere."

Nekomi chuckled "It's like healing. You don't have to go anywhere for that. Get some sleep, Zabuza-kun."

Zabuza smiled and said "You too, Nekomi...chan."

In the morning...

Zabuza woke up to the smell of rice and fish. He stumbled into the kitchen only to find himself the last one up. "Wha..."

Nekomi chuckled at Zabuza's ruffled appearance "Ohayo, Zabuza-kun."

Zabuza asked "How am I the last one up? When it's training time, the brats all want to sleep in, but when there's food it's another story."

Nekomi teased "Ah, do you not find yourself in a similar position this morning, Zabuza-kun?"

Zabuza blushed lightly in embarassment "I...overslept. By accident."

Nekomi smiled "Did my food wake you up?"

Zabuza grumbled "Yes. The smoke from it was choking me."

Nekomi challenged "Then you came the wrong way to avoid it. I guess you don't want any of the smoky food, either."

Zabuza said "I'll still take some."

Nekomi smiled triumphantlly and gave him a bowl and they all ate.

Haku said "It's really good."

Zabuza was still thinking of last night. He called "Haku?"

"Hai?"

Zabuza tried "Uh...Haku, I'm pretty much your adopted father, right?"

"Hai," Haku answered, surprised.

Zabuza said, in a voice that was almost too low for any of them to hear "Then, could you call me toussan?"

Haku went wide eyed "Really?"

Zabuza nodded, with a faint blush. This was embarassing, but after seeing the relationship Nekomi had with the boys, he wanted that kind of relationship with Haku. Haku answered, with a smile "Hai, Zabuza...toussan?"

Zabuza smiled.

Nekomi said "Awww."

Zabuza growled "Hey, all this doesn't mean that I'm not still a tough guy!"

Nekomi smiled "I know."

"I mean it!"

"I know."

"Grrr, then quit smiling at me when I say it!"

Nekomi kept a chuckle down and put on a serious face. She said "We leave after training." Zabuza went out. Nekomi chuckled lightly.

Haku asked "Why are you laughing?"

Nekomi said "I'm not making fun of Zabuza, so don't be angry."

Haku looked confused "Then what?"

Nekomi smiled "He thinks that because he's a man, he shouldn't show his emotions; that when he does, it makes him look weak. That is what I found humorous."

"Why?"

Nekomi said "Because it takes a truly strong man to be able to show his feelings and talk about them. Being a ninja does not mean killing off your emotions. It is true that it is necessary to be in control of them, but showing that one cares is not a sign of weakness. Caring about someone is what makes you human. It gives you something to fight for and makes you strong."

Haku said "Really?"

"It is what I believe."

Haku looked up at Nekomi with teary eyes. "Zabuza-san wants me to call him toussan. I've thought of him like that since he found me a year ago, but...my real father...he..." She sniffed.

Nekomi said "Tell me about it, Haku-chan, believe me, I've heard a lot of bad things in my time. I won't judge you."

Haku sniffed. She said "My father found out that I and my mother had a kekkai genkai that involves ice and, he killed her." She hiccuped and her voice grew shaky "He tried to kill me too, but I killed him first. I didn't want to kill him! He was nice before he found out that I'm...that I'm..."

Nekomi was over to Haku and hugged her in a blink. She said "No, you are not a monster. You were defending yourself."

"But I...Zabuza-san says that I should hide my emotions..."

Nekomi said "No, he's just afraid of showing his. You're a good girl, it wasn't your fault. You can't help something you're born with."

"But I..."

Nekomi said "All you can do is do the best you can from now on, and don't be afraid to show your emotions."

"Hai..." Haku said, shyly.

Just then Zabuza came back in "Well, is anyone going to train before we go?"

Haku paused. Nekomi gave her a little push "Hai...toussan." She smiled.

Zabuza was surprised, but he let a smile show briefly "Then let's go train already.

Nekomi said "We'll go in about an hour, so just some light training." She walked outside with the boys.

About an hour later, Nekomi started gathering up her stuff and getting it sealed in the scroll.

Naruto thought this a good time to talk about what had happened yesterday with Gaara. He asked "What happened?"

"Kaasan saved me."

"From your demon?" Naruto remembered the talk they had had only a few days after they had met where he had learned that both of them had demons in them.

Gaara nodded "It wanted to hurt me, but Kaasan put it in a cage."

"Oh, so you can sleep now. So you really did go to sleep last night. I didn't know 'cause you woke up before me."

"Yeah, I can."

"What was it like?" Naruto asked, curious.

Gaara smiled "It was...good. I think I'll do it more often." Then Nekomi was done and Zabuza was ready too. The four gathered around Nekomi and dissapeared.

The five reappeared on dry brown earth overlooking hte sea. The children looked at the view in awe.

Naruto said "So this is a cliff..."

Gaara said "And that's the sea...it's big."

Naruto said "The air smells funny."

Nekomi said "That's salt air." She breahted in deep. "I've always loved salt air." She sighed in contentment, then went back to the task at hand. She checked the soil. It wasn't the best, but it could be improved. She said "Don't follow now." The group cried out as Nekomi walked off the end of the cliff.

She said "Hey, I'm just hanging off the side." They looked over. Zabuza, Haku and Gaara sweatdropped.

Naruto cried "Cool!"

Nekomi walked down the cliffside some more and memorized the area. She dropped down and took a look at it from the bottom, then climbed back up, knocking on the cliffside every few feet. She went into one cave.

Naruto was bending over the cliff edge, watching "Kaasan, where'd you go?"

Nekomi's voice came from up under them "In here." They felt the ground tremble a little. Just then Nekomi appeared beside them, making Zabuza jump.

"Don't do that!"

"Sorry. It's good and solid down there, but I will build in supports."

Zabuza interrupted "Then why did it shake?"

Nekomi said "I kicked the wall pretty hard. It's not too damp either, surprising for it being this close to water. I'm pretty sure I can work with it."

Zabuza shook his head "What now?"

Nekomi said "Now we return home. Tomorrow I send out the clones."

Zabuza said "That's another thing. Are you sending out summons or clones?"

Nekomi thought on it. She had thought about sending both, but now that she had thought about it more, clones would work better. She didn't want to ask her summons to travel over such long distances. She answered "Clones."

"How many are you going to send?"

"At least 12."

"Won't that take a lot of chakra?"

Nekomi said "Yes, it will. That's why I'm taking the rest of the day off when we get home."

Naruto said "Kaasan, you said we'd stop by that town..."

Nekomi frowned "That's right. I promised them ramen and dango.' She said "Right. I forgot, onto the town then, but...we'll have to be in disguise."

"Why?"

Nekomi said "We don't want people recognizing us. Can Haku henge?"

"I haven't taught her."

Nekomi thought "Hmm, I have necklaces for the boys...I bet no one will recognize Haku if I dress her up as a boy though."

Zabuza snorted "Haku, a boy."

Haku said "I could pretend to be a boy," quietly.

Nekomi got the necklaces out and put them over Naruto and Gaara's heads and took the clothes out for Haku and sent her behind a tree to change. Zabuza asked "Will we use codenames?"

Naruto said "We've got those already. I'm Akari."

Gaara said "I'm Banshou."

Nekomi said "Kagomi."

Zabuza said "Big change there, Nekomi."

Nekomi said "Last name's Mino. What about you two?"

Zabuza thought. He had it! He could just split up the name of a swordsman he knew. "I'll be Ken, Haku can be Shin..." When he saw Nekomi's face darken, he realized his mistake. "Shino. Haku can be Shino." Her expression lifted.

She asked "How do we know each other?"

Zabuza blushed a little "Well, you're already travelling as a family..."

"Go on."

Zabuza blushed some more "I could go as your husband." He glanced at Nekomi, who was thinking about it.

Initially she didn't like the idea, but it was just pretend, right? Nothing would come of it. "Alright."

Zabuza smiled "Then let's go there, already. I'm hungry." Haku came out from behind the tree. While Nekomi did her hair up, inner Zabuza jumped up 'Alright! She said yes! Woohoo!'

Zabuza thought 'Shut up. I don't even like her like that.'

'Just keep telling yourself that.'

Zabuza thought 'Damn this blushing' as he felt his face grow warm again. He looked away, but put his hand on Nekomi's shoulder and they left for the town.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO So, what do you think guys? R and R and let me know. Ja ne. 


	15. Chapter 15

I've had a complaint about Nekomi becoming a bit of a Mary Sue, don't worry. I'm going to keep an eye on that. She'll have faults like all the other characters.

Also, I may give her a vice if I see fit. Anyway, onto the story.

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They walked into town. It wasn't a ninja village, so it was easy to get into. Nekomi asked "So, what shall we eat?"

"Ramen!" Naruto cried.

"Dango" Gaara almost asked.

"Miso" Haku said, her voice in between Naruto's and Gaara's.

"Barbeque" Zabuza stated, looking like he wouldn't budge on his choice.

Nekomi sweatdropped. She looked around. She had no idea what restaurant would have all that, if any did, so she randomly pointed "How about that one?"

They all looked. There was a restauraunt named Sumiyo's. Nekomi thought 'Now let's hope they have everything...' They went in and the place didn't seem busy at all. In fact, they were the only customers. She thought it strange at the time, but the place seemed nice enough. She picked up the menu and saw that the place she had picked was a rare variety place that served all the things they had wanted. 'Heh, I can't believe the random pointing thing worked. It worked well for Dan, but I've never had his luck...' Nekomi went into a memory of when she and her husband had first met and he was nervous, looking for a good place for them to have lunch. He pointed "Let's go there!" The place that he had ended up picking had become Nekomi's favorite restauraunt. He laughed "See, I told you I knew this town!" She laughed "That was luck and you know it." He laughed back. She shook her head and snapped herself out of her memories when she heard someone calling her name "Nani?"

Zabuza said "Earth to Nekomi. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Nekomi tried for a smile, but only mangaged a half one "Just thinking."

Naruto cried "Let's get food!"

Nekomi looked in her pockets. No money. 'Kuso, I left my money in the scroll.' "Ano..."

Zabuza sighed "You left your money didn't you? Why do I have the feeling that this is going to take everything that I have in my wallet?" He looked at Gaara and Naruto especially.

A woman walked up from the back. She said "Hello, my name is Sumiyo. Do you know what you want?"

"Ramen" "Dango" "Miso, onegai" "Barbeque"

Nekomi said, apologetically, "I'm sorry, let me..."

Sumiyo said "Oh, no, I can handle that. Let's see, two bowls of chiken ramen for your youngest, four skeweres of dango and red bean paste for your middle son and two bowls of miso soup for your oldest. A plate of Korean barbeque and rice for you husband and for you... the special, perhaps?"

Nekomi shook her head in amazement. She said "That sounds great. What's the special?"

"House dumpling soup."

Nekomi smiled "Okay, all of that and two bowls of the special."

"Coming right up." The woman left again.

Nekomi realized that this would probably wouldn't leave her or the kids full, she wasn't sure about Zabuza and Haku, but she didn't want to strain Zabuza's wallet too much, even though she planned to pay him back. She saw the look he was giving her and said "Don't worry, I'll pay you back."

"Yeah, uh huh." Sooner than Nekomi had expected, the woman was back with the food. She had a younger man helping her. They lay the food out. The woman said "Meet my son, Ishigo."

"Hey." Ishigo greeted them. "It's nice to see some business in here."

"Ishigo..." his mother warned.

He placated "Kassan, I just meant that it was nice to see some faces."

"Hm." She went back into the back, seeming to accept his explanation for the moment.

Ishigo sighed and turned back to Nekomi and the gang. He said "We hardly get business anymore. We only get customers in when there are travellers." He lowered his voice "This restauraunt has been avoided by the people who live in this town. I think the people believe it is cursed."

"Why?"

Ishigo looked this way and that, then said, in a voice just loud enough for her to hear "Father."

"Explain."

Ishigo whispered "He was a Wara."

Nekomi gasped. "Was?"

Ishigo said, sadly, "He died about a week after...they all died. Mother said it was heartbreak. The village people think that anything related to the Wara clan is cursed now."

Nekomi remarked "You must take after your mother strongly. I have never seen a half Wara without black hair and green eyes."

Ishigo said "Well about that, it's a henge." He looked around again and said, quitely, "This is what I really look like." The young man shimmered and he now had black hair back in a ponytail and green eyes. When he heard footsteps he immediately took back up the henge. There stood his mother.

"Ishigo, what are you talking about?"

Ishigo stuttered "N..Nothing, Kassan."

She frowned at him "I heard henge..."

Ishigo gulped. Sumiyo knew her son well. She hissed "You told them! The villager's don't even know that you're your father's son. They think you're adopted!"

Ishigo tried to defend himself "They wouldn't strike me, for the same reason they haven't harmed the house."

She hissed "They no longer fear reprisal. Obscenities are on the walls each morning now. I have washed them off. A rock missed the window this morning."

The man now looked afraid, having been unaware of this, since he got up later than his mother after she had already taken care of this. He asked "Then why do we not leave?"

Sumiyo said "Where would we go?"

Nekomi looked at Zabuza, they weren't within direct hearing of the mother and son.

Zabuza understood her look "No."

Nekomi pleaded "But we have to."

"No we don't."

"Please."

Zabuza said "I thought you were worried about revealing yourself. Anyway, how do you know their story is even true?"

Nekomi thought back into the family records she had been forced to memorize years back as the heir to the clan, searching for a Wara that had left and never returned to the compound. A name surfaced. She said "Hanryo?"

The woman heard her and gasped, her eyes fixed on her, then she turned angrily to her son "Did you tell them?"

Ishigo looked startled "N..No! I did not! Honest, mother."

"Then how could she know?!"

Nekomi looked at Zabuza again, pleading with him.

Zabuza sighed. She wasn't going to give up on this. He said "Fine, but I still want my own bed."

The woman and man looked confused.

Nekomi said "The shades are down, but...a moment." Nekomi walked to the door and went through a few handsigns, then hit the door with her palm. The kanji for silence appeared. She said "Now then, everyone, drop your henges." They did.

The mother and son were shocked. Ishigo recognized the man as one of the members of the seven swordsmen of the mist, he didn't recognize the children, although he noted their strange hair colors. The woman had hair and eyes like him, was it possible...

Sumiyo recognized Nekomi immediately.. She fell into a kneeling position and pulled her son down into the same position. "Hime, you're alive."

Nekomi said "Please, get up.:

They rose. Sumiyo said "Princess Nekomi, I am honored to meet you. I know you from Hanryo's sharings. Please forgive my son."

Nekomi said "It is alright. I wish you to come back with us. I am going to create a new village."

Sumiyo asked "A new village?"

"Hai. It will begin as soon as I contact some other people I know."

Sumiyo asked "Waras?"

Nekomi frowned "No, I am the last Wara."

"Forgive me, I am sorry if my comment..."

Nekomi cut her off "Will you come?"

Sumiyo asked "Where will we stay?"

Zabuza answered, gruffly "At my house." He didn't like the idea of his house becoming more crowded than it already was.

Ishigo asked "Are you really her husband?"

Zabuza answered, with a frown "No."

"Oh."

Zabuza thought 'I don't like that 'oh'.

'I thought you didn't like her.' His inner self teased.

'Shut up.' He focused back on what Nekomi was saying.

"Is all that you own here?"

Sumiyo answered "Hai, we live upstairs."

"Gather everything you wish to take with you and bring it down here. I will seal it in a scroll for you." They went. Nekomi turned to Zabuza "Well, I wasn't expecting this, but there's another person to add to the village now."

Zabuza said "Two."

Nekomi replied "Yes, two. We need all the people we can get." She then noticed the look on his face. "What's wrong, Zabuza-kun?"

Zabuza blanked his face, though embarassed. He must have been caught staring "Nothing."

Nekomi said "You were letting off a small amount of killer intent towards Ishigo earlier."

"I didn't realize."

Nekomi rolled her eyes. He sounded half sarcastic. She said "Try not to scare people off. We're going to have hard enough of a time finding people."

"Hai."

Haku noticed that Zabuza looked uncomfortable. She asked, quietly, "Zabuza...toussan?"

"Nani?"

"Do you like Nekomi?"

Zabuza was shocked as he tried to think up an answer. He had never expected Haku to say something like that. He failed to come up with an answer he liked and grumbled "I better go check up on those two." He went up the stairs.

Soon afterward there was a scream and the sound of something breaking. Nekomi's eyes widened and she ran up the stairs with the children following her "Zabuza!"

When she got onto the sceen she noticed a broken window, but no glass and a pot that was smashed on the floor. "What happened?"

Sumiyo said "It's hiding in the room. It just startled me. Zabuza-dono tried to kill it, but he missed."

"Kill what?"

"A snake. It must have gotten in through the window that was broken earlier this week..."

Nekomi stopped listening at the word snake. A snake? She scanned the room, not moving, until she saw it. It was among some clothes, looking straight at her, swaying it's brownish green body back and forth. Nekomi's eyes widened and her breath caught in terror. 'Snake' was the only thought her logical mind could come up with and she was frozen to the spot.

Zabuza saw Nekomi's look and asked "What's wrong, Nekomi?"

Nekomi stuttered "S..Sn..Snake..."

Zabuza thought 'She's that afraid of snakes?' He saw her body start to shake and frowned. It made sense with what she'd gone through with that snake bastard, but he wouldn't have guessed that she would be so paralyzed by it. This time he took out a kunai and hit the snake with it, killing it. He threw it out the window.

With the snake gone, Nekomi was once again able to move and breath. She sat down, still shaking, trying to recover from the ordeal. Her heart still raced. She practiced the calming techniques she learned from meditation, but her concentration was shot to hell and so were her nerves. When Zabuza put his hand on her shoulder she nearly jumped out of her skin.

Zabuza said "Hey, it's ok, it's me. Why didn't you tell me?"

She looked at him with tearful eyes, not trusting herself to talk.

"Any more secrets?"

She shook her head no. Zabuza expected that she probably had other things she wasn't telling him, but he wouldn't force it out of her. "Have you always been afraid of snakes?"

She shook her head no. "Just since then?" She nodded, then held her hands up. She had done this before, when she wanted them to meet in his mind or her mind. Zabuza wondered what she wanted. He grew worried for a second. She hadn't been speaking, did it make her go mute or something? He sighed "Yours or mine?" She pointed weakly to him. "Fine, but you know I still don't know how to do it, you'll have to." She nodded.

Sumiyo realized that the princess was 'sharing' with Zabuza and would probably not want to be disturbed for a few minutes. She was disturbed by what she had just seen and saddened by it, for the Nekomi that her late husband had described was not one that held such a paralyzing fear in her. The massacre must have scarred her for life, and no wonder. She led her son and the other children out "Let's give them some time alone. I'll make some more food."

Naruto said "But, I want to stay with kassan."

Sumiyo said, gently, "She'll still be up there. They need some time to talk right now." She went around gathering ingredients. "Now, are you still hungry?" Sumiyo fixed food while the four sat there. She came back out when she finished to find the younger children talking about the incident.

"It was scary. I've never seen Kassan so scared."

"I've never seen kaasan scared at all."

"I wonder what they're talking about. How do you talk without using your mouth?"

Gaara said "In dreams."

"In dreams?" Haku asked.

Gaara said "Yeah, Kassan talks to me in my dreams."

"But they're dreams."

Gaara frowned in frustration that he wasn't making his idea very clear "I mean real dreams."

Sumiyo was amused at the child's concept of sharing. Then she frowned. The event had evidently upset the princess greatly, she would most likely want to forget about it. She said "Listen now." She had their attention. "No one is to mention this again, what happened in that room a few minutes ago."

Naruto asked "Why?"

Sumiyo thought of a way to explain it to him "Because reminding her of it might make her scared again, or sad, ok?"

Naruto frowned. He didn't want to see his kassan scared again "Oh. Ok, I won't talk about it anymore."

"That goes for the rest of you too." They nodded and swore to never speak of it again.

Meanwhile, upstairs...

They were in Zabuza's mind, beside the ocean, it seemed, but not the cliffs. Zabuza said "Now, talk to me," more gently than he usually spoke.

The gentleness was all it took for Nekomi to break down crying.

Zabuza was alarmed. It always alarmed him when Nekomi cried. She was the strongest person he had ever known, but when she cried, she seemed so weak...so vulnerable... He said "Nekomi, it's over, it's ok." He hesitantly put his arms around her, not really sure what to do. She turned and cried into his chest. He said "It's gonna be okay. You wanna talk about it? I'm assuming you brought me here for more than crying" Zabuza said, trying to lighten up the situation.

Nekomi choked over her words as she sobbed "How ca.can I..b.be a fi.fighter l.li.like t.th.this?"

Zabuza said "Calm down, I can't understand you." He sighed and let her calm down a bit. He decided that now would be a good time to tell her he had seen one of her nightmares. He said "Nekomi, I saw your nightmares, by accident, when I showed you the cliffs."

"What?" She looked up at him and asked hoarsely. "You..."

Zabuza interrupted "If I had been what you had been through, I'd probably be afraid of snakes too, but Nekomi, you're the strongest fighter that I've ever met, so what if you're scared of snakes, everyone's scared of something and anyway, if a snake comes up, I can kill it, right?"

Nekomi was surprised that he had seen one of her nightmares and found his awkward attempt at cheering her up to actually been working.

Zabuza said "So we'll just stay a team and then we'll be undefeatable, right? I'll deal with the snakes and you can deal with everything else..." He paused "That would be kind of boring actually, could you pass some of them over my way, sometime?"

Zabuza's chatter was distracting her away from her previous thoughts. She said "Sure."

He said "Finally, you're talking normal. I was afraid you'd gone mute or something."

"We're still in your mind you know. I could be mute."

Zabuza's face showed signs of alarm again "You're not, are you?"

"No, I was just in shock. I'll be okay when I come back out."

"Don't do that! You had me worried!"

Nekomi smiled, though it was a tired one. This gave Zabuza hope, however. He said "Well, I guess we better go back out, I bet the brats are wondering what's going on."

Nekomi frowned "I..."

"They'll be fine. They're kids. Kids recover fast."

"Okay..." They went out.

Nekomi was still facing Zabuza. He said "You got your shirt wet. Let me get it." He knew she had a shirt on underneath the kimono like top that she wore when they were just training sometimes. He reached over.

She said "I've got it." She pulled it up to take it over her head, then Zabuza noticed some of the cloth had gotten caught on the cabinet behind her. She reached over to fix it "You're stuck," He brushed by her side to get at the string. She flinched away like she had been burned, but she was still caught. "You're still stuck on that thing, let me..."

Nekomi said "No, I've got it."

Zabuza reached over again "What? You've got a top under it, I can see it. It would be easier if I fixed it." She had gotten tangled up worse with it. She flinched again when his hand brushed against her side, trying to get at the thread that had caught. Now he was concerned "Are you hurt or something?"

He turned around to look at her side "You're not bleeding...Is it sore or something, there? What if something didn't heal right?"

"It's not that."

"You jerked away when I touched you."

"I'm fine."

Zabuza finally realized what it must be "I can't believe it. You're ticklish?"

Nekomi was blushing now. "I am not, my side is just...sensitive. That is it."

"Is it now?"

"Yes, and I believe I smell food, Ja." She cried quickly as she saw a curious look in Zabuza's eye. She took off down the stairs.

Zabuza thought 'I would never have thought she'd be ticklish. They train their kids up from infants, don't they? How could her skin still be sensitive after all that. It doesn't make any sense.' He smiled. That was just another mystery that made Nekomi, Nekomi. Although, unlike the snake one, this was one he was interested in investigating.

'Where did that thought come from?' He thought

His inner self popped in 'You know you wanna.'

'I do not.'

'Do so.'

'Do not.'

'Do so, you can't stand to see her upset, mr. Joke guy.'

'Is mister Joke guy the best you can come up with? What are you, six?'

'Admit it.'

'I admit nothing.'

'I'm just going to keep bothering you until you do.'

'Argh! Fine, I don't like to see her cry, okay? Happy now?'

'Yes'

'Then go away.'

'Nope.'

'Why?' Zabuza asked, aggravated.

'Because I like annoying you.'

'Argh!' Zabuza thought 'Shut up!' He shook his head, relieved that sort of thing didn't happen when Nekomi was there. She'd think he had lost it. Maybe he had.

'Lost it for her, you mean.'

'I thought I told you to shut up!'

'Fine, fine, geesh, you're always so mean...' his inner self went away and Zabuza gathered himself and went downstairs, prepared to pretend none of what had happened had just happened.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Oh, this was a longer than usual chapter, wasn't it? So, what'd you guys think? Good? Don't forget to R and R. Ja ne.

P.S.

Let me know if you have any ideas for vices or weaknesses that Nekomi should have in fitting with her character. I want her to remain a strong character, but I don't want her becomming a Mary Sue. 


	16. Chapter 16

Hey, here's a second chapter for you guys. I had a burst of inspiration and I may or may not be able to post one again next week, so here you go. Enjoy!  
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Zabuza went downstairs where he noticed that Sumiyo had made some more food. He asked "Got any more barbeque?"

Sumiyo silently wondered why they had come down seperately, now she sensed some tension between them, but not the dangerous kind. Embarassment, perhaps? She kept her thoughts to herself and said "Hai, just a minute."

Zabuza looked at Nekomi. She glanced at him. He coughed. She looked away, both still embarassed about earlier.

Gaara asked "Aren't we supposed to go home soon, kassan?"

Nekomi was snapped out of her thoughts by that "Yes, we are. After we finish eating, let's get packed and go home." She decided she'd just try to forget about what had happened. She was grateful to Sumiyo for taking everyone out of the room. She would have hated it if the kids had seen her cry, had seen her broken. Them seeing her frozen was bad enough. She picked at the food Sumiyo had set in front of her.

She berated herself 'If I'm this weak, how will I build a village? A simple snake paralyzed me...' She frowned 'I feel so weak now. I didn't use to be like this...' Her encounter with Zabuza earlier had reminded her of one of her early meetings with Dai. Thinking of Dai brought up a tumult of feelings. Intense sorrow, reget, and ...longing...She missed him so and the thought that she could have saved at least him and her sons continued to haunt her. Nekomi did her best to hold herself together. She could sort herself out when they got back to Zabuza's. They needed to get Sumiyo and her son away before something bad happened to them. She said, in a monotone voice, "Good, everyone's done. Finish bringing your possessions here and I will seal them." They went upstairs. Nekomi took out a bigger scroll and her brush and ink. She prepared the scroll.

Gaara frowned at his kassan. What was wrong with her? She didn't show it one her face, but he could feel that something was wrong. He didn't know how, but he could. She was busy, though. She didn't like it when they interrupted her when she was busy. He stopped Naruto from going over.

Naruto said "Hey! Something's wrong with mom, move."

Gaara responded "I know, but she doesn't want us to bother her right now."

"I don't care!" Naruto tried to break free from Gaara.

Naruto was blocked from Nekomi again when Zabuza came back down. He had helped the two move their things down along with Haku. Nekomi silently sealed the items, one by one and gave the scroll around a half hour later to Sumiyo. She looked at them with a tired face "Hold on." They did. Nekomi teleported.

They were back at Zabuza's house. Nekomi took out a kunai and slashed her thumb, causing the party to cry out. She swiped it along the seal for the things they would need and then sheathed the kunai. She said "Make yourself at home." She said hollowly, and teleported again.

Zabuza panicked "She jumped again? Where did she go?" He looked around. Naruto was also missing.

Gaara said "Ototo must have gone after kassan, we've got to follow them!"

Zabuza was torn. Nekomi probably wanted to be alone, but Naruto could get hurt trying to follow her, if he even knew where she was. He said "I'll go. Haku, Gaara, you stay here. I'm also counting on you two to stay put." he looked at Sumiyo and Ishigo. They nodded. "I'll be back soon."

Gaara asked "How do you know where they are?"

Zabuza said "Hey, I'm a ninja, kid. I can track anything." He left.

Gaara remained behind, worried. He wished there was some way he could see what was going on.

Naruto had run out of the house as soon as Nekomi had vanished, completely focused on finding her. She had tried to teach them how to feel out energy, but he couldn't do that yet. He was just going in the direction that felt right. He ran, not just in urgency now, he was starting to get scared. It was growing dark and he kept hearing weird noises coming from the trees. He cried "Kassan! Where are you?!"

Nekomi had gone out to think and sort herself out about a half mile away from the house at a waterfall that she had found when she was out training by herself in the morning. She sat, trying to meditate and feeling generally sorry for herself until she picked up on a sound. It sounded like Naruto. "Naruto?" She called. She got up, panic rising. She used a jutsu to search her surroundings for chakra signatures within a mile. She found one, moving away. It was large, and red. 'Naruto!' She ran, not using Inabikari because it wasn't good for such short distances.

Naruto had nearly forgotten about finding his mother and was just running now, scared. He felt like something was following him. He skidded to a stop when he heard a howl and saw several big animals running towards him. They looked mean. "Kaasan!" He screamed as he ran faster than he had before.

Nekomi heard his scream. 'I'll be there in a second, hang on till then, naru!' When she got there, she saw a wolf about to pounce on an exhausted Naruto. She intercepted it and threw it off.

Naruto cried "Kassan!" He started to wail.

Nekomi said "Momma's here now. I'll protect you, Naru-chan."

He hugged her leg and Nekomi fought off the wolves with chakra blasts, not being able to get in close range attacks because she couldn't leave Naruto alone. She soon realized that this was a bad idea though, as she felt her chakra levels ebb dangerously low. It had taken more out of her to transport that many people than she thought and she was using too much chakra in the attacks. Her chakra control must have slipped because of how shaken up she was earlier. She didn't even have enough for a jump home. 'Damn it! What's the matter with me? Have I lost the ability to function completely? Now I've put us both in danger. I've been trying to drive them off and not kill them, which would be easier, because I don't want to kill in front of Naruto...Now, my energy's run out too much to use any more chakra based attacks and I can't do my kenjutsu moves with a seven year old on my leg.' She thoght 'I have just enough chakra to send him home. I'll do that, maybe then I can use Dai's sword to take care of them.' She said "I'm going to send you home, then I'll follow afterward, ok?"

"Don't leave me!" Naruto cried.

"I'm going to send you back home, don't be scared. Now shush, You need to be still." Nekomi took the second Naruto paused from crying and used the last of her chakra to send him home. When he vanished, Nekomi collapsed, then struggled to her feet with Dai's sword.

Meanwhile, Zabuza had been looking as hard as he could for Nekomi, following the sounds of crying, alarmed when he recognized it as Naruto. When the crying stopped, he grew more worried than before. He made it onto the scene to see a battered and bleeding Nekomi on her back, kicking a wolf off her blade. She killed three already, but it seemed the pack now wanted revenge on their fallen. They attacked.

Zabuza made ten copies of himself, hoping to scare the animals away. He said "You'll have to get by me first!" He and his bushins struck them at once with his zanbato. Finally, half dead, the wolves that were able to slunk off.

Zabuza went over to Nekomi. She had passed out. Zabuza checked her out. She had all the symtoms of chakra exhaustion and that looked to be her major problem, besides a few deep scratches that needed seeing to. He picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the house.

Sumiyo looked up in relief when the door opened. They had all been worried since Naruto appeared by himself. In walked a battered Zabuza and a bleeding, unconscious Nekomi in his arms.

Naruto and Gaara cried out. Zabuza said, gruffly "She's fine, just a few cuts and she ran out of chakra. She'll be back to normal in a day or two." He put her on his bed and took off her outer shirt, a sad look crossing his face for a moment, then said "Sumiyo, could you clean out her wounds?"

"Hai. You should let me look at yours too, Zabuza-dono."

Zabuza said "I'm fine."

"Still, it is best to prevent an infection. I may not be a medic nin, but I do know the basics. Ishigo, find the medical kit."

"Hai, kassan." He dug around for the kit amongst the things that Nekomi had unsealed. He came up with a strange rectangular looking case a few minutes later and handed it to Sumiyo. "I'll see to Nekomi-hime first, if you don't mind?"

Zabuza said "I told you I'm fine." Sumiyo ignored him and went off to check Nekomi's wounds. When the pot boiled, Ishigo brought her the water and a cloth. Zabuza thought 'Why did she go off by herself if she was that low on chakra? Was she that upset? Did I make it worse?' He felt guilty. Nekomi had just lost her husband. She probably wouldn't want that kind of attention at all for a long time. What if he had made it worse? What if he hadn't come along when he had? He decided to treat her strictly as a friend, even if he did feel something for her.

He sighed, usually when he was this frustrated, he'd go out and train, but it didn't feel like the right thing to do right now with Nekomi out of it. He looked at Naruto, who was laying in the kitchen on a mat. Sumiyo had already cleaned and bandaged him up and he was sleeping.

Ishigo asked "What happened out there? We got worried when he came back by himself."

Zabuza said "Nekomi must have sent him back. They had been attacked by wolves."

Ishigo said "Surely Nekomi-hime could have handled a few wolves."

Zabuza had thought about that too. He said "I didn't get there until she was by herself. I think she was trying to scare them off without killing them, because of Naruto. She must have run out of energy."

Ishigo said "I don't get it. If she had taken care of them at once, it shouldn't have been a problem."

Zabuza said "I guess Nekomi didn't want to kill in front of a six year old."

"Oh." Ishigo now looked embarassed. He hadn't thought about that.

Sumiyo came back. Everyone looked at her. She said "She'll be fine. I cleaned her wounds and wrapped them, but if I know a Wara, she'll be recovered by the morning."

Zabuza asked "That soon?"

"If Hanryo was any example, yes. I've wondered if accelerated healing was a bloodline abiliity of theirs."

"Good."

"Now, let me see to you."

"I'm..." Sumiyo interrupted "You might get infected if I don't see to those scratches. It won't take long. Now take off your shirt"

"I.." Sumiyo interrupted again "Unless you want me to take it off for you." Zabuza had a faint blush, embarassed as he took his shirt off. Sumiyo appraised his wounds. Not bad. She cleaned them out and then put medicine on them. He hissed. She said "It will keep them from getting infected." She then wrapped them up, not failing to notice through all this that he had a very good build and several scars already. Definately a fighter. As soon as she had finished, Zabuza looked to put his shirt back on, but it was gone.

Sumiyo had it. She said "You should change your pants too, they're dirty." She had the shirt, washing it.

Zabuza grunted and got another shirt from the bedroom. He found one and put it on, then turned around to look at Nekomi. She was looking at him. She said, just loud enough for him to hear "I did something foolish, didn't I?"

Zabuza went over and sat down. He said quietly, "You're not supposed to be awake yet."

She said "I lost control of my emotions, Zabuza. The incident earlier, if that had been it, I...could have handled that, but..."

Zabuza said "I'm sorry if I made it worse..."

Nekomi shook her head "No, what you did, it was something that reminded me of Dai, that's it. Nothing big, it's just, the thoughts are still there. Did you see the part, at the end..." She trailed off.

Zabuza realized she must mean the part when she was going to...he grew alarmed "You're not..."

Nekomi said, tiredly, "No, I have to take care of the boys, but what kind of mother am I? Look what almost happened to Naruto." A desolate hope appeared in her eyes for a moment "You seem like a capable father, maybe if I..."

Zabuza cried out "No!" He caught himself and made it a whisper just in time. He said "I am not a capable father and I can't take care of those brats by myself. They need you! Damn it, Nekomi, don't tell me you're still thinking about that!"

Nekomi cried, louder "You don't know how it feels! I walk in to find my family dead! All of them dead! If I had refused orders and stayed home instead of going to guard the compound I could have saved them, damn it! I could have saved them!" She screamed.

The scream woke up Naruto and he and Gaara ran in the room, despite Ishigo trying to hold them back.

Zabuza said "No, Nekomi, you..."

Nekomi glared at him and cried "Like I saved so many more lives by standing guard? If I had been home I could have saved them!"

"You don't know that!"

"I could have taken them out! I took out six summoned snakes on my own larger than my home!"

"You think someone else could have taken them? They'd just end up inside the village. You did what you thought was right..."

Nekomi cried "No! I followed orders! And look where it got me!"

"Everyone would have still died! Even if you could have done better at home, only those around you would have survived. If that! You were almost killed yourself!"

Nekomi cried "That would have been enough!"

Zabuza cried "There was nothing you can do! You can't change the past!"

Nekomi broke down at that and cried, not caring anymore if they all heard "I make such big plans, but how can I fulfill them? How can I be a kage when I can't even save my own family? Who would follow me?" She closed her eyes and hung her head on her knees as she wept hot tears. She soon felt two pairs of small arms around her. She opened her eyes, though her vision was blurry because of the tears.

Naruto was crying too "You saved me!"

Gaara cried "You saved me too!"

Naruto said "I'll follow you, kassan!"

Gaara said "Me too! Don't leave!"

Naruto said "You said you'd never leave us again! You promised!"

Nekomi smiled sadly at them, remembering when she had first met them. She had told them that. She asked "Do you really want me for a mother? I couldn't...what if I..."

Gaara said "You're the strongest! You beat my demon! I can sleep now!"

Naruto said "I thought I was dead, you saved me! You can beat anything!"

Gaara said "You were the first person I met who wasn't scared of me."

Naruto said "You were the first person who was nice to me. I wouldn't leave you even if you told me to!" He stated and crossed his arms.

Gaara said "Me neither! You're the only kassan I want!"

Nekomi was touched by this. Her eyes watered again as she felt a warm feeling begin to replace the dark one. 'These two would have died if I hadn't saved them and she didn't doubt Naruto's words. Maybe...I'm not a failure...maybe they're right...maybe..."

Haku cried "You're the best thing that's happened to me since Zabuza-san found me!" Then she stepped back with a slight blush, embarassed at her outburst.

Then Zabuza stepped up. He didn't look Nekomi in the eyes, not wanting to embarass her. He said "Look, Nekomi. I'm sorry I yelled at you, but, the kids are right. You're the strongest kunoichi, no, the strongest ninja I know. If you were still out there, you'd be at the top of the bingo books. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone has things they wish didn't happen in their pasts, but we live on and do the best we can. You want to make a new life in the village. Make it there. I'd be glad to be a ninja under you, as long as we still get to spar."

He smiled as he met her eyes for a moment at the sparring comment. This, combined with his speech, helped raise Nekomi's spirits almost as much as the kids.

Sumiyo said "I speak for the both of us, Hime-sama. We would follow you gladly and speak of your identidy to no one."

Nekomi sniffed, although her heart felt less burdened. 'I'm not over Dai, or the boys, or the loss of my people. I may never be, but...I have a new family now and...A new job. I'll start a new life, and I won't make the same mistakes...' She smiled. "Thanks. I needed to hear that." She fell back on the bed "I'll start tomorrow." Before she did, she gave them all a smile that lit up the room. They all smiled in reflex.

The next day, early, Nekomi woke up to find a boy lying on either side of her. She smiled, glad to be out of the dark depths that she was in yesterday. She began creating clones as soon as she had moved the boys to the side.

Zabuza woke up just as he felt a large burst of chakra. "Wha...Nekomi?"

Nekomi was laying down. "Nekomi, wake up. Something's going on!" He hissed.

Nekomi said, tiredly, "I just started off our new life, Zabuza-kun."

It took Zabuza a couple of minutes to understand what she was talking about, having just woke up "Oh, you sent out your clones?"

"Yeah, and now I'm gonna go back to sleep. I just used up all the chakra that I had stored since yesterday."

"Nekomi?"

"Yeah?"

"When are we..."

Nekomi interpreted his question and said "We'll leave in a couple of days when I have enough energy back to take us and begin work. You can send out your own clones out tomorrow." She trailed off at the end and soon Zabuza heard her breathing deepen. He had opened his mouth to ask her another question, but now he closed it, and smiled slightly, glad that she was back to normal.

The next day...

Nekomi woke up. She had slept for the whole day and night before. She woke up to find only Sumiyo in the house. She soon caught her gaze.

"Ah, Nekomi-hime, the boys are out training. I'll let them know you're awake."

Nekomi smiled "No, let me surprise them." She rose and went outside quietly, to watch the training. She saw Zabuza with a bamboo pole sparring with Ishigo who had the same. She smiled as she saw Zabuza sweep him off his feet several times, then as Ishigo got him once. She chuckled and looked for the children.

To her surprise, Gaara and Naruto were showing Haku the training excercise that she had shown them to practice chakra control. She could see that Haku was getting it quickly and it frustrated Naruto. She chuckled. Chakra control would be hardest for him, as he had the most, but once he learned how to control it properly, he would be one heck of a ninja. She watched some more without making herself known. As the wind blew her hair back gently. She smiled. It was...peaceful.

Naruto was the first to spot her. He cried out "Kassan!" and ran over, grabbing onto her leg. She was pushed back a little by his speed.

"Ohayo, Naruto-kun."

"You're awake! Yay!" She ruffled his hair.

"Yes, I am."

Soon Gaara came over too and hugged her. She hugged him back "Ohayo, Gaara-kun."

Zabuza and Ishigo also came over. Ishigo said "Ohayo, Nekomi-hime."

Zabuza said "About time you got up." With a smile "Now I can spar with someone."

"You were sparing with me."

Zabuza said "Someone who is a challenge."

Ishigo said, offended, "Well, excuse me!"

Nekomi smiled "Don't take offense, Ishigo, Zabuza likes to antagonize people. It's part of his tough guy act."

"It's not an act."

Nekomi said "Sorry." She rolled her eyes, but saw that Ishigo was back to smiling. She said "Besides, I'm sure you'd catch on fast enough with steady training." She then turned to Zabuza "While I'd love a spar, we're moving tomorrow, so you need to send out your clones."

Zabuza asked "Moving?"

Nekomi answered "Moving to the cliffs. Work has to begin. They will return in two weeks."

Zabuza asked "Two weeks? Will that be long enough?"

Nekomi answered "That will be long enough for a start, but we should rest up today. You need to send out your clones and I need to save up some more energy for tomorrow."

Zabuza said "Hey, I don't know how to make those kind of clones."

Nekomi answered "Just make kage bushin, since they're in mist, it shouldn't be that hard to make more and send them out if they dispel. Make sure you disguise them though. Do it after lunch, though. I think Sumiyo's almost finished."

After lunch, Zabuza made the clones with Nekomi's instruction and sent them off. The next day they moved to the cliffs.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO This was probably my longest chapter ever, so please forgive any spelling mistakes. I expect a time skip in around three chapters, but depending on how the story goes, it may be more or less than that. Don't forget to RandR. Jiao. 


	17. Chapter 17

I know I've gotten a couple of comments about Nekomi being borderline Mary Sue, and I'm working on controling that, although, I think she'll have to be a little bit above the ordinary, if she's to be the mother of two jinchuriki and be able to keep up with them both, also, she's supposed to be a kage level character to justify her becoming an unofficial kage of the village. Also, I'm sorry if the story's been a bit Nekomi centric, but please forgive that, after the time skip it will be more focused on Naruto and Gaara. This chapter will also introduce a lot of OCs. They will just be introduced. Many of them will not be used much for the rest of the story, but I need to introduce them.

Also, in a previous chapter, I said Nekomi took out six summoned snakes bigger than her home. That doesn't mean that those snakes were as big as the ones that attacked Naruto in the forest of death in the canon. When she said bigger, she meant taller, for example, if the snakes in the forest of death were five stories tall, the ones Nekomi fought would have been about a story and a half, something like that. Now that that's cleared up, onto the story.

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It had been two weeks since they moved there. Nekomi had not gotten as much work done as she would have liked because she had to send out extra clones as a few got intercepted and destroyed. Zabuza had been training with the boys every day. All she had gotten done so far was carving the rooms into the cliffs. It had taken every waking hour for the past two weeks, she hadn't slept more than two hours a night.

Zabuza was starting to worry. 'She's pushing herself too hard.' He said "The others are supposed to arrive soon, right? Why don't you take a break? You haven't gotten much sleep."

She said "But I haven't gotten anything done but the skeleton of the village."

He said "You've been working non-stop. I'm sure they're not expecting to arrive to an already built village, besides, it's time to check in on your clones."

Nekomi decided she could use a short break. She said "Only if you take a break and check on yours." She had shown him how to locate the bushin through a chakra sensing technique combined with meditation. They were all on the outside now. She called "Naruto, Gaara, why don't you play blind hide and seek?" She had the boys try to find each other using their other senses like smell and hearing.

Naruto said "Can Haku play too?"

Haku said "I'm going to help Sumiyo pick herbs."

Nekomi looked up. Sumiyo had henged. Nekomi was still nervous that they were going to be outside the genjutsu she had set up. She said "Wait a moment on that, you two." Sumiyo and Haku paused. Nekomi closed her eyes and programmed the necklaces, then threw them to them. "Keep them on. I set them to make you invisible." They caught them and put them on. They dissapeared.

Zabuza asked "You still there?""

They heard two voices "Hai." "Hai, toussan!"

Nekomi smiled. She said "Now, it won't hide your chakra, so be alert. I know you know how to detect other chakra signatures, Sumiyo."

Haku said "I can too!"

Nekomi said "Yes, but you haven't fully mastered it yet."

Naruto had been listening. He cried "I want to go too!"

Nekomi said "No, you haven't gotten good enough at the technique yet. It's dangerous outside the village."

Naruto pouted, but complied. Nekomi said "Now I have to check in with my clones. So does Zabuza. You and Gaara play and " She looked back at the now invisible Haku and Sumiyo "I'll see the two of you soon, I'll keep my ears open."

"Hai." They left. Nekomi tossed two makeshift blindfolds to the boys.

Gaara smiled at Naruto, who was still pouting over being left behind and said "I won last time."

Naruto focused back on him and challenged "I almost did!"

"Nuh uh."

"I'll beat you this time!" Naruto cried. He tied on his blindfold and so did Gaara.

Nekomi and Zabuza sat down and were motionless. Nekomi was back first. She opened her eyes wide in surprise. Three groups would arrive within the hour. Had they sped up? She had just checked on them yesterday and they weren't that close. She was worried. One of her bushins was very faint, she couldn't pick up on it, but it hadn't dispelled because she didn't have its memories. They could have stopped, changed direction, or be here any minute. Yesterday, they had been closer than the others. Her clones were instructed to teleport the group once they reached a certain distance of the village to the inside.

Zabuza noticed Nekomi's face and said "What?"

Nekomi said "Something's wrong. I've lost track of one of my groups and the others have doubled their speed. If they are being pursued..."

Zabuza frowned "They wouldn't come here, would they?"

Nekomi shook her head "They think like me, I wouldn't do that. Unless, pursuit was far away and they had been forced to use Inabikari." Naruto and Gaara came over, sensing something was up. Suddenly there was a bright flash and Nekomi felt a shock as a clone dissipated. There appeared a woman, a man and two boys. They looked worse for wear, like they had been on the run and in a few fights. Once the woman lay eyes on Nekomi, she sobbed.

"It's true...it's true...oh, Kami..."

Nekomi was shocked. She went over and hugged the woman "Shina, what happened? Were you attacked en route? I recognize the boys, but..."

Shina sniffed "I met him a couple of years ago, his name is Jin, oh, Kami! It's really you! I couldn't believe..."

Nekomi held her shoulders and caught her gaze. She said gently, "Calm down. Now, tell me what has happened."

Shina took in a shuddering breath "Yes, we had troubles once we started out, but that's not the worse part. Ever since...it happened and...mother died...we have been in hiding. The villagers...they..." Her voice started breaking up again.

Nekomi hugged the woman again and said "Enough, I know now, although I cannot understand." Her face showed anger "Fear often turns into hate, I have seen this several times." She looked at Naruto and Gaara. She said "I am so sorry, if I had known, I would have come for you sooner."

The man came up, with a smile "I am glad to meet you, was the girl a bushin? If she was, she was a strange one."

Nekomi noticed this man seemed to be very upbeat. Considering how fragile Shina now seemed, compared to her former self, he was probably what was keeping her from going off the deep end. She said "Yes, I call it a jikyuu bushin."

The older boy looked at her "I remember you."

Nekomi looked, it was Shina's younger brother. She said "I saw you about four years ago, you were ten then, and your brother was four. I bet he doesn't remember me." Indeed, the younger boy was looking around with a lost face.

Shina asked "What do we do now, Nekomi-hime?" She looked up, with a lost look in her eyes.

Nekomi said "You have been brought here on the assumption that you accept my offer, do you?"

Shina nodded. "We have no where else to go." The man, Jin, nodded.

Taro asked "So, where is this village?"

Nekomi said "Underground. It's still being built."

Just then, three groups arrived almost instantaneously. Nekomi winced as there was a sharp pain in her head from the three clones dispelling at once. Another group from Rain, and one from Fire and one from Water had arrived. They all looked shocked to see Nekomi. The other group from rain had an old man, a woman and two children. The group from Fire consisted of a woman and a small boy and the group from water had a man a woman and two children. They saw each other and began talking, challenging.

Nekomi rubbed her temples. Reassimilation was wearing her out more than she had thought it would. The older man walked up to Nekomi. He said "It has been a long time, Nekomi-san. Things have changed much."

"Hai, Mareo-san."

"You will build a village from scratch?"

"Hai. With the help of every capable man and woman that joins."

He said "It is no easy task."

"Of that I am aware."

"You are exhausted." He looked at her with concern.

Nekomi shook her head at the older man. This was not the place for her to display weakness "I am fine. I must talk to them." In truth, her head was swimming. She raised her voice "Listen!"

They all quieted and looked at her. She said "I have brought you here because you have agreed to join this village, by myself I have only been able to build the skeleton so far, I will need all of you to help along with those that come to get this village built. If any of you wish to back out, you may do so now, I will return you home with no memory of the trip." They were all quiet. Nekomi waited a moment and said "Then all of you agree to stay. Good, for I will need all of you. Once the others arrive we will begin work on the village, I expect that to be in three days from now." Nekomi began to have a migrane, but she couldn't look weak. She would have to wait it out. She closed her eyes for a moment, and as she did, a wave of exhaustion hit her. It was harder to open them back up again. She thought 'I shall have to do something soon.'

Zabuza noticed Nekomi's condition. He called quietly "Naruto," knowing she could handle his energy and that he had the most to give, he said, quietly, "Go give your mother some energy."

Naruto looked at him, then grinned. He ran up to Nekomi. His running up to her caused some talk, as before, he had been standing off to the side. Nekomi looked at Zabuza and saw what he planned. She smiled, she could use it. She thought 'I will introduce them, but save their secret for when we all meet.' She said "Come here, Gaara." He came up, looking nervous. He looked in her eyes. She whispered 'No, it's not about that.' She had them both in front of her. She said "Listen." They stopped talking. She said "I have adopted these two boys and consider them sons. They will be treated with respect, even though they are young. Is that understood?" There were many widened eyes and suprised looks, but nods. Nekomi hoped that she hadn't set them up for royal treatment that would spoil them. She also hoped that she didn't have any of her people turn back when she told them the news.

Naruto held his hand up. Nekomi took it and gently accepted the energy, causing no visible energy to leak out. She felt better after a minute and stopped when she saw Naruto droop. She said, quietly "Arigato. Now, you two go back with Zabuza-san while I finish." They did.

Naruto looked at all the people. There were two boys close to his age and two younger. Instead of going back to Zabuza, he wandered in the crowd. The adults were still listening to his mom. He walked up to the youngest looking one that had blond hair like him. He asked "What's your name?"

The blond haired woman standing next to the boy looked down upon the two boys, one her son and the other the son of...she wondered what she should call her. He took after her side of the family in looks more than he did the princess. What were they talking about? She shifted her focus from the speech to the conversation the two boys were having.

Michio shyly answered "Michio."

Naruto said "My name's Naruto. Is that lady your mom?"

He nodded.

"She's pretty."

Michio said "You have yellow hair, like me."

Naruto nodded "Yep."

"Are you my brother?" Naruto looked at him confused. He didn't think so, he had never met him before. He didn't know who his parents were...before he could answer, the woman spoke up.

She said "No, Michio-kun, that boy is her son." She pointed to Nekomi.

"Oh."

Naruto got a little nervous when the woman bent down to him "What's your name? Naruto, right?" Naruto got a little nervous. Was he supposed to use his fake name? He frowned. He nodded, though.

Nyoko wondered what she had said to make him frown like that. She said "Michio, do you want to go play with him?" Michio nodded, again, shyly. Nyoko said, smiling at Naruto, "Now you look after him, ok?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise, but nodded. He grinned. Gaara had been talking to a red haired boy. Naruto walked up "Hey, Gaara. Who're you talking to?"

The older boy said "I'm Ryo. What's your name?"

"Naruto."

"Nice to know you both."

Gaara frowned at Naruto. Didn't he remember that they were supposed to tell them the other names? He guessed nothing could be done now. Another boy walked over, with black hair. He said "Hi."

Naruto said "Hi."

"My name's Mio. What's your names?"

Gaara sighed "Gaara."

"Naruto."

"Ryo."

"Michio," he said, shyly.

Mio said "Hey, there's one more boy. Hey!" He called the smaller red haired boy. The boy looked at him, then came over, hesitating "hello"

Mio said "We're all getting to know each other. I'm Mio. That's..."

"Naruto"

"Ryo"

"Gaara"

"Michio"

The boy answered "I'm Yoshi."

Naruto pointed and asked "Is that your mom?"

Yoshi looked and nodded.

Mio said "You don't look a lot like her."

Yoshi shuffled his feet "I'm adopted, mom says."

Naruto said "Me too!"

"Really?" He looked at them, happy.

Mio said "Yeah, weren't you paying attention earlier."

Yoshi looked down.Gaara said "Yes, so am I. Is your mom nice?" Yoshi nodded hard. Gaara said "That's what matters, okay?" He nodded.

Mio said "Let's play a game."

"What game?"

"Tag!"

"Ball"

"We don't have a ball. Let's play tag."

"Ok."

Mio tagged Naruto "You're it!" They chased each other around.

Nekomi watched the children playing their game and worried about them doing it so close to the cliff. She caught Zabuza's eye and motioned with her hand for him to go over and keep an eye on the children. After a minute, he caught on and did. Just then, another jolt. Another one had come back. This was another family from fire, although she had only expected one person to be in it. She was surprised. She said "Welcome." She thought 'I should start getting some of them to their rooms, however sparse they may be.' She said "Those of you who are ready to go to your rooms, may, although I warn you, they are not well developed yet. Work has just begun, but they are solid." She opened a scroll and handed it down to Sumiyo "Sumiyo, please stand over there." Sumiyo walked a short ways away. "Those of you who are ready, go to Sumiyo, she will show you to your rooms." Many of the younger ones went. The two newest arrivals stayed and so did the older adults. She said "There should be three more groups arriving today, three tomorrow and four the next day. After they have all arrived, we will have a discussion, all of us, and begin the rebuilding." She joined the crowd.

The man that had just arrived half bowed "Nekomi-hime. I was glad to come."

Nekomi said "I am glad that you came, however, when I sent my clone, I was not expecting two."

The woman nodded, deferentially to Nekomi. She said "My name is Miya, I have taken my husband's name of Okibi."

Nekomi questioned "Maiden name?" She saw a red tomoe flash in the woman's eyes so quickly it could have been imagined. Nekomi's eyes widened 'Hisoka's a half Hyuuga and he married a half Uchiha?' She laughed, lightly "What are the chances? I would talk to you when I have finished here." Hisoka nodded.

Nekomi met next with the older man from before. He asked, quietly, "You did an energy transferrence earlier."

"Hai, my son."

"I thought so, but I could not believe it. To take energy from a child so young, and have him still standing, he must be an incredible child."

Nekomi smiled "Hai."

Shina's new husband contacted her next "Nekomi-hime. Shina and Taro have retired, I will do so too, as soon as I have collected my son." Nekomi nodded, then looked for the children. She had taken her eyes off them for a few minutes. They were still playing closeby, she counted. All of them were there. She let out a breath in relief. He left. Then the older man, Mareo, nodded deferentially and said "I wanted to inquire about what we will all do for the next three days."

Nekomi said "In a couple of hours, I will adress everyone about that."

He nodded again, to affirm and said "Then I will also retire with my daughter. My other daughter went after my grandson, she is...overly enthusiastic about training. I noticed your...friend was also a swordsman."

Nekomi said "I will make sure she doesn't start a fight." He smiled and left with a little black haired girl. She watched a blond haired woman pick up a little boy and pass by soon afterward. The family from water, looked her way, slightly bowed, and retired. Then, all was left were the half Hyuuga, the half Uchiha and Saki Hinoke, the mother of the small red haired boy, who was still playing with Naruto and Gaara. Nekomi looked at her, questioningly.

Saki said "What? I'm from fire too, plus I'm a missing nin now, it's not like I'm gonna go blab anything."

Nekomi smiled and shook her head slightly at the woman who was only a two years her junior. She looked at the Okibis. She said "She is harmless, I will leave it to your discretion whether you want to include her in this conversation and enforce your decision."

The man and woman looked at each other and the man said "I trust that you would let no turncoat within this village. She may stay."

Saki looked a little miffed, but she held her peace. She wasn't used to being treated like a child. She said "Gee, thanks."

Nekomi said "Be respectful, Saki. Also, I expect you to keep what is heard to yourself." She nodded, after a minute. Nekomi smiled slightly and said "Sorry for the lack of accomodations," then she smiled curiously as they sat down on the grass "How did you two meet? The chances are astronomical."

The woman said, with a half smile "I had been cast out of Leaf when I was a baby, because of who I was. I'm almost happy about what happened to those high minded bastards. Serves them right for being so elitist." She sighed. "Anyway, back to how we met." She smiled a little bit. "I moved out of that house when I was grown and I travelled around. About three years ago, I ran into Hisoka outside of Fire."

Hisoka said "Literally," He kept a stolid face. "Turning around a corner."

The woman, Miya said "Of course, once I saw him, I figured he was a ninja from Leaf and that was going to finish me off, so without thinking about it, I activated my sharingan."

Hisoka said "Once I saw who she was, I thought she was sent by the police force to finish ME off, so we fought."

Miya said "When we both saw Leaf nin and both dove into the alley, we decided that maybe we'd be better off talking than fighting."

Saki was obviously thinking on this. She studied both of them, then exclaimed "So, wait, you're half-Uchiha, and your husband's a half-Hyuuga and you're married! Woo! Imagine the kids!"

Only the faintest blush was visible upon the faces of the two. Nekomi reprimanded Saki. She said "Saki, you're being too personal."

Saki looked at her, trying to explain that she was just teasing, but Nekomi's stern gaze discouraged it. "Gomen." She mumbled. Nekomi shook her head and said "Soon, I will adress everyone about what we will do for the next three days."

Meanwhile...with the children...

Yoshi was having the time of his life. He had never had friends before. He laughed "You're frozen!" They were playing freeze tag.

Naruto cried "Save me, Haku!" Gaara was frozen too. Haku was trying to get around the boy, who was guarding the others.

She feinted and got to Naruto "Go!" Naruto took off running. He looked behind him after a minute. Everyone had gotten frozen.

When he turned around he saw Yoshi "Ack!" He was tagged. He wondered how that kid did that.

Yoshi laughed "I win!"

It was then that his mother came for him. He went with her reluctantly, waving goodbye to his new friends. Soon after, Nekomi spoke to the crowd, then they all went to their rooms. Sumiyo and Ishigo had their own room as the other famalies did. Zabuza and Haku had their own room too, so it was just Nekomi, Gaara and Naruto in theirs. Nekomi decided she'd talk to Naruto and Gaara about her decision. They didn't take it as well as she hoped.

Naruto cried "No! They'll all hate me!"

Gaara cried "I just made friends!"

Nekomi said, soothingly, "Do I hate you?" They shook their heads. "Do Zabuza or Haku hate you?" Their heads shook again. Nekomi said "If they do not accept you, they can leave, I will erase their memories and take them back. Anyone who lives in my village will accept my sons."

Gaara asked "Why do you have to tell them?"

Nekomi said "All of us must work together. To do so requires trust, keeping such a big secret from the peopleNaruto and Gaara looked up at her, still scared looking. She hugged them "I promise."

The days passed and soon all families were here, including the ones Zabuza had brought. It was time to meet the crowd. She gathered them in front of her. She stood on a raised mound. She said "Listen. Some of you have recently arrived. Some of you have been here for a few days. If any of you wish to leave, tell me now, raise your hand!" None did. One said "We would follow you anywhere!"

Nekomi frowned slightly. She said "There will be no secret pasts in my village. In this village, all of us will work together and to do so we must trust each other. Secrets undermine this." The Okibis looked at her, nervous. She continued "You may have changed your mind about your wish to join this village when I tell you. If you wish to go then, I will take your memory and you can go. If you want to talk, to understand, I will talk with you afterward." She paused.

Hisoka stepped up. Nekomi looked at him in surprise. He said "I have a secret past. I am, as I'm sure a lot of you can tell, part Hyuuga. I was saved by this woman from death and I would follow her through death."

The woman came up. She said "I am half Uchiha and if not for this village, I would be doomed to a life of wandering."

Nekomi looked at them surprised, when they smiled at her. She had not expected that. She said "You see, there are no secret pasts here. You all know mine. The one I must tell you of is of these boys who have become my sons." The crowd, which had become loud, questioning the couple, became quiet once again.

Nekomi cleared her throat and held her sons' hands. She presented Gaara first. She said "This is my son, Gaara." She had decided to do away with the fake names, at least inside the village. There was no point. She said "I found him left to die on the border of Rain. This boy is the jailor to the Ichibi, Shukaku, which was sealed into him at birth." There were many gasps. Nekomi held up her hands before talk began up again. She said "I am not finished." They quieted again. She continued "And this is my son, Naruto. I found him near death also on the border with Rain. He is the jailor to Kyuubi no Kitsune." There were more gasps and some talk. Nekomi held up her hands with a stern face. She said "Consider what some of you have gone through yourselves. If you need more explanation, I will explain, but I will have you know that these boys are my sons and if you are not willing to accept them, you are not welcome in my village." She frowned.

A man questioned "You would sacrifice the creation of this village upon two jinchuriki?"

Nekomi said "They may be jinchuriki, but they are my sons and I would give my life for them."

A hand went up, cautiously. It was Kawa's wife "What do you mean by jailor?"

Nekomi said "The bijuu that have been sealed into my sons are caged, preventing their escape, with unbreakable seals."

A man from Wind said "The holders of the bijuu are supposed to be unstable. How do we know that these will not be."

Nekomi said "They were unstable because they were sealed improperly. Both of their seals are well done."

The same mand from wind said "But Gaara was said to be unstable himself."

Nekomi frowned. She said "Naruto's seal was done by the student of the seal master, the fourth Hokage. His seal was expertly done. I corrected the mistakes in Gaara's seal myself and made it secure, like Naruto's."

She heard some doubt still. Many of the people looked confused. Some looked scared. Some were muttering about the bijuu. She frowned, not wanting to have to get rid of any of her new village members. Suddenly, unexpectedly, Miya Okibi came up beside Nekomi.

She cried "Do I look like a monster to you? An abomination?" There was no answer, but she had the crowd's attention. She waved her hand at the boys and said "I was outcast from birth because of who my parents were, something completely out of my control and here these two are, outcast from their home villages because of something they couldn't control any more than me!" Some looked to be considering what she had said. She contiued "The reason why most of you are here, if I may guess, is because you didn't exactly get along with everyone where you came from, maybe you were outcasts, or maybe you had someone treat you like dirt for no reason. Then you should know what it's like!" She paused, to let that sink in. She said "I trust Nekomi-hime in her judgement, but not only that. I also trust my own. I have watched them play with the other children. They play without malice, they look after the smaller ones. That is not the behavior of a monster." She stepped down.

Hisoka stepped up then. His wife had never even met Nekomi before this day and she had gotten up to talk the crowd. He could do no less. He said "I was branded at birth as a bastard child because my mother was a common villager. Still, I was subjected to the cruelty of being a part of the branch house. They placed their cage seal on my forehead and would have killed me if it hadn't been for her." He pointed to Nekomi. "I also stand by her judgement." He crossed his arms. The adults from each family began to speak out. First came the adults Nekomi had brought.

A stern, samurai like man said "My family has had connections to the Waras for generations and I have never met one who was stupid. I will give them a chance."

The grey haired man, Mareo, said "I do not believe the boys to be bakemono. I, too, have seen them play with the other children. I have let them play with my grandson and he has never come back harmed."

His daughter, a blonde haired woman, spoke up and said "I'm with my toussan and besides, if these kids were the bijuu and not their jailors, you'd feel youkai chakra, and you don't."

Shina spoke up "My parents died; one when I was young, and my mother recently. If it were not for this village, neither I nor my siblings would have anywhere else to go because me and my brothers were treated like abominations. I know what it feels like to have people hate you for no reason. I do not believe they are demons."

A grey haired woman, probably the second eldest of the villagers spoke up and said "I may not be a Hyuuga, but I have been able to see through people for a long time." There was a chuckle or two from the crowd. She continued "I also know a good deal about seals and the ones done on the two boys are very well done. I see no danger of the bijuu escaping."

A dark haired man in glasses said "So have I and I agree. I also add something that no one else has. If these boys weren't holding back the bijuu, they would be wreaking havoc on the world. If anything, they are heroes, not monsters." He pushed his glasses up.

A long red haired woman said "Nekomi-hime, when she didn't even know me, saved my baby from drowning, I owe her for that. I will trust her judgement."

Then Saki spoke up. She said "I don't even see how anyone can think that those brats are monsters, they're just little boys, like my Yoshi. They've been better friends to him than anyone."

Yoshi spoke up, the first child to do so "Yeah!" When he saw everyone looking at him, he hid behind his mother's leg again. His cry had broke what tension, there was, though. Several other people put their imput in.

Nekomi was relieved by the results. Everyone seemed at least willing to try, now. That Miya was really some speechgiver. She was glad that she had her. She wondered how different it might have turned out if it hadn't been for her. Then came Zabuza's group. The eldest of each family came up. A brown haired man spoke, it seemed for all of them. He said "We've never even seen you before and we've stayed mainly together, but we all agree that we can't stand the Mizukage and that this village may be the best way of dealing with him. We'll give the kids the benefit of the doubt."

Just then there was a flash. Everyone tensed as they tried to see who it was.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO So, what do you guys think? Good? RandR and leave comments. Also, who do you guys think it is? 


	18. Chapter 18

Hello readers. Just a note before the chapter. I'm making Itachi 13 right now, so he hadn't been anbu captain for more than a few months before the massacre.

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There appeared a clone of Zabuza and a man with blue skin and gills. Nekomi looked at Zabuza who looked like he recognized the man. He asked "Kisame?"

Nekomi turned to Zabuza and said with a frown "All of your clones are supposed to be in."

The blue man looked at the Zabuza in front of him then the one beside him, clearly confused. "Wait, two Zabuzas?"

Nekomi frowned. That was not a kage bushin. "Who are you?"

The man posing as Zabuza said "I picked up a few techniques from an interesting clone."

Nekomi frowned "Show yourself."

A teenager with midlength black hair and dark, almost black eyes showed himself. He said "I heard what you're doing here. I want to join." Nekomi saw the young man wore a Leaf hitate with a scratch through it, but it was not until she saw the crest on his sleeve that she recognized him "Itachi Uchiha."

There was unrest among the crowd. Nekomi frowned "How did you get here?"

"I happened to be in Mist and I saw a man dissapear in a flash, later, I saw another man who did the same. The second time I copied the technique and used magenkyo and a technique I picked up from the clone. I didn't know clones could be made that were that advanced."

Most of the crowd had heard of the infamy of the Uchiha murder, so there was much unrest among them. Nekomi silenced them.

She wanted to have a council meeting immediately about this, but then something gave her pause "The other man, the first. Where was he? What did he look like?"

"Black hair, brown eyes."

"Which way was he coming?"

The teenager looked confused at the way the conversation was going, but he said "This way."

Nekomi frowned and tensed, feeling a slight spark in the air. Just then there was another flash and a man with black hair and brown eyes appeared. "Nekomi-san!"

The man shimmered as he took off a necklace and now his eyes had turned green and narrow and his hair had turned a bright red.

Nekomi sighed "Akado." She knew that all of these new arrivals were making her people nervous. She said "Council meeting, I want Yasuko, Mareo, Amaya, Hisoka, Kado, Morio and Miwa. I also want Zabuza and Miya with me." She formed a kage bushin. "My bushin will stay here to alert me of further incidences. I want construction to continue. This event will not delay us. Masato, Jin, Kane, Saburo, you will lead construction. You are to divide up the capable adult workers. Nami Watatsumi, you are in charge of the youth. Working under you are your team of Taro Amatsubu, Juro Amagumo, Ruri Shippuu and Ikusei Miyo. The rest of the children are to be divided up between the four of you."

The teenagers looked somewhat panicked. "What should we do?"

Nekomi said "Nami, you are familiar with chakra concentration excersises."

"Hai, hime-sama."

"Show them to your group and they will teach them to the children. My sons are familiar with the excersise. They may assist. "

Naruto and Gaara looked at her. She said "The two of you go with Haku and the other children." They looked at her. She said "Nothing's going to happen. Go." They went, reluctantly into the cliff. Then, at Nekomi's order, the construction crews split up and left, leaving just the people Nekomi requested and the newcomers. Nekomi said "The cases will go in order of difficulty. Starting with Kisame Hoshigake."

The blue man put his hands up defensively and said "Hey, I have no idea what's going on. I was just looking for Zabuza and..."

Nekomi said "Be quiet. You have not been asked to speak."

He said "But..." The council members glared at him and he shut up.

Nekomi asked "How did you come here?"

Kisame thought 'Why did she tell me to be quiet and now she wants me to talk? Weird onna.' He said "I thought that guy was Zabuza and he told me to follow him,"

"Why?"

"He said we were gonna go fight..." Kisame replied in almost a whine.

Zabuza frowned 'I should have thought about Kisame. We did spar a lot when we weren't on missions.' He said "I can understand his reasoning. We challenged each other...before.."

Nekomi nodded. She asked "What are your feelings on the Mizukage?"

Kisame scowled, serious, "He's a money hungry bastard."

Nekomi smiled slightly and as he talked, she searched for signs that he was decieving her and found none. She said "How would you like to get back at him?"

Kisame grinned "Sure!" Nekomi nodded and said "I detect no deceit from this one. Is there any one against telling this man about the village? As a former member of the seven swordsmen, he would be an asset to the village." No hands were raised, though some looked a bit skeptical. Then, someone spoke up "What if he does not wish to join?"

Nekomi answered "Shitsunen then." The council members nodded. Nekomi said "Hoshigake, go with Zabuza and he will tell you a story." Zabuza took Kisame off to the other side of the room.

Nekomi now focused on the two left. She frowned "I am not sure which of you to focus on next. One of you may be the betrayer and murderer of his clan and one of you may have compromised the security of this village."

The red-haired man winced. He saw, too late, that this movement drew her attention to him and made up her mind. "I think I will talk to you next, Akado."

Akado laughed nervously "Surely you are glad to see me, lady?"

Nekomi frowned "I was surprised to see you, yes, however, you inadvertenly or not led this man to my village and who knows if more will come."

Akado cried, in self defense, "How was I supposed to know about him?"

"You're a Wara!" Nekomi cried as though that explained everything. While Akado looked down in shame, the other council members looked shocked.

Nekomi said, in explanation, "The Wara clan was split up into two groups, the black haired noble and the red haired commoners. Our sides fought for generations. I am the princess of the noble, Akado is my equivalent of the commoners."

Akado said "But we're not enemies. We never fought." He placated.

Nekomi said "It is true that I have not held you to be a personal enemy, but you have made mistakes that may cause the uprooting of what I and so many more have risked it all for."

He cried "Come on! I just slipped up once!"

Nekomi scowled "More than once, I'll bet. Tell me, Akado, were you still in Rain when the investigation party from Konoha came?"

Akado looked nervous. Nekomi continued "How well did you cover up the fact that you weren't really dead?"

He winced "A bushin?"

Nekomi yelled "Bushins dispell!" Nekomi seethed. It had been Akado that the scarecrow Konoha-nin had been talking about. She had almost given herself away for nothing. She scowled, but forced herself to calm down. She said "However, I must consider all things objectively as a good leader. Council, on one hand, this man may be one of the most powerful assets to the village, on the other, he may have inadvertently brought doom upon our heads."

The council murmered among themselves. Finally, Miya said "You use the word may, shall we take this to mean that there might be no further repurcussions of his actions?"

Nekomi said "There is a possiblilty of nothing happening and it is also possible that we may be discovered."

Mareo asked "How long would it be before we knew if we would be discovered?"

Nekomi thought on this question. She didn't know of a real way to know when or if they would be discovered, although, if someone had already found them out, they wouldn't take long to get there. She said "If no one has come in a month, it is unlikely that we have been discovered."

Amaya said "If genuine desire to join the village is expressed, I suggest a month trial period during which he will show his worth and his commitment. If nothing happens within this time, I would allow him to become a member."

Nekomi thought on this. Although she was angry, she had studied Akado and he was sincere. He was just an idiot. She said "I am open to this suggestion. A vote, all those who agree with Amaya's proposal." The hands raised unanimously once Nekomi had shown she was open to the idea. Having another Wara in the village boosted their chances of survival, especially if this Wara was as powerful as the princess. This was the thought of most of the council members. Nekomi sighed. She said "Akado, do you agree to the terms?"

Akado nodded. Nekomi said "You are the responsibility of Miya and Hisoka Okibi." The two immediatly looked at her. Nekomi said "Both of which could kill you rather easily if you prove a traitor within your one month period and both of which are excellent at reading people." The couple looked at her again. Nekomi said "Miya, I will show you a few techniques once we are done here. Akado, you will go over to that wall and wait." Akado got up slowly and walked to the wall opposite of Zabuza and Kisame.

Nekomi turned to Itachi. She said "You are the hardest case for me to understand. You are accused of murdering your clan, but I don't sense evil within you."

The teenager looked at her, with a pained expression. He said "I did not do it, but no one would believe me. I was accused of murder. I had to run. No one would believe me."

Nekomi said "You have been accused of a great atrocity. There can be no doubt that you are telling the truth. I shall perform Wakeshin."

There was uproar among the council members who knew of the mind sharing technique. Nekomi held up her hands "I will take an observer in with me. The most qualified would be Miya." The woman nodded. She said "I will come as an observer."

Hisoka said "The rest of us will observe and dispell the jutsu if..." Nekomi picked up on the broken statement. She said "Do not dispell the technique. We shall do a full Wakeshin, Miya will only observe. If you think something has gone wrong, you may dispell the jutsu upon Miya. It will not be as dangerous that way and she can tell you what is going on." They nodded.

Nekomi turned to the young man "Do you submit to a mind sharing technique?"

He looked confused, but he nodded.

Nekomi said "You are familiar with meditation. Clear your mind as well as you are able." She saw him close his eyes, he was still obviously nervous. His breathing hadn't slowed down at all, or his heartrate. Nekomi started the handsigns, finishing them as she closed her own eyes. She touched her forehead to Itachi's and grabbed his hands and went in.

Nekomi found herself in a place that was blank, but not as dark as she had expected. She asked "Are you aware?" A mental image of the boy appeared. She said "Now, I need to see what happened, for that I will need access to your memories. You must not fight me."

He looked somewhat frightened, then he looked away slightly and said "I am not comfortable with this."

Nekomi said "It will not hurt. I am not seeking to injure you or take away your knowledge or memories. I just seek information." He nodded slightly. "Do not fight me." He nodded again and dissapeared.

Nekomi accessed his memories. She went back a little further than she had meant to.

She watched the boy, who she was shadowing, sit in his house. Suddenly a younger boy ran up. "Aniki, you said you'd train with me today!"

"Not now, ototo. Maybe later." He answered as he flicked him in the head.

The younger boy rubbed his head "You always do that. Why won't you ever train with me?"

Nekomi felt conflicting feelings from the teenager. He felt a fondness for the younger boy, but wanted to distance himself at the same time. Emotions were forbidden for an ANBU. They got people killed. So he was told by the black ops, so he was told by his father, which reminded him. He had a meeting with his father that night.

Nekomi let the memories play through, watching the boy meet with his father. She was shocked at what she saw. The Uchiha head had called Itachi because he was considering making an alliance behind the Hokage's back with a former Konoha nin who was establising his own village. Nekomi was enraged when she discovered who the nin was. Orochimaru! She watched as Itachi tried to talk his father out of the idea. Several other Uchiha were present in the room. They met each night for a week. At the end, the young Anbu commander had convinced the clan that he would betray them the way he had betrayed Konoha itself. The exhausted Itachi had then been sent on a mission. He completed it early and came back. He came home to a scene of death and destruction. Bodies were littered in the street. Itachi rushed to his parent's home to find himself standing over his younger brother who was wailing on the floor. He scowled at this impersonator. "What have you done?"

The man who pretended to be him smirked "I have found none of these worthy for an alliance, save you and your brother. You will come to join me." He laughed "You will have no where else to go. And if you do not, your brother will, to get revenge against you!" He laughed again.

Nekomi raged "Orochimaru!!"

Those outside wakeshin grew alarmed as Nekomi began radiating a strong killer intent. Mareo stopped one of the other council members from touching the two. "Remember her warning." He dispelled the jutsu on Miya.

Miya shook her head, to clear it. "I don't believe it."

"What's going on?"

Miya shook her head "I don't believe it." She repeated.

Yasuko said "What's going on? Do we need to dispell the jutsu?"

Miya shook her head "No, the Uchiha is not the focus of her anger."

Several council members shivered. All felt the hairs on the back of their necks stand up at the killer intent that she was radiating.

Back in the middle place...

Nekomi tried to stop the rage that was penetrating her every thought. She stopped the jutsu.

Itachi woke up. This was all very strange. First, he had been on the run ever since he had been falsely accused of murdering his clan, then he had come upon that man and then this place and then he had been interrogated in a manner he had not even seen the Yamanakas or the interrogation squad use. Now, what was going to happen? He could feel killer intent still rolling off her. He watched her, prepared to fight and leave again if he had to.

Nekomi shook as she tried to bring her rage under control. She took several deep breaths then opened her eyes. She said "The Uchiha is innocent of the murder of his clan."

Miwa asked "Then who commited the genocide?"

Nekomi answered tersely "The same man who murdered mine." She shook and didn't notice Itachi's eyes widen. "Orochimaru." She breathed out loudly. She said, tersely, "He is innocent. If he wishes to join, his acceptance his up to you. I must take my leave of this meeting. I will be up top." She was gone in a violent flash of light. They all tensed.

Hisoka said "Byakugon" He looked around and said "She's above." He deactivated it. They all stared at the teenager. Miya turned to the other council members and said "I saw most of it. I have despised the Uchiha clan my whole life, but this boy is different. I vote in favor of him staying."

Up above...Nekomi was alone, the others gone to work on the construction. She could just hear them working. She created two dozen jiykuu bushin and surrounded herself with them. "Let's go." She ordered them to rush her and turned her aggression upon fighting the bushin. Once she had gotten down to the last one, she panted. Miya walked up to her "The council has decided. The boy will stay. It has not been decided where he will live. That decision has been left up to you, hime."

Nekomi had calmed down enough to think clearly after the training. She thought about the boy. Where would be the best place to put him? She said "I will talk to him again." She followed Miya back down.

Itachi looked at her. He wondered if she had known of the memory he had recieved from her before she cut off the jutsu. This woman had been through the same thing as him and they shared the same enemy. He felt an intense kinship with her. He waited for her to say something.

Nekomi looked at this boy.He was just barely a teenager and he was an Anbu. What a life to give a child. And yet, they hadn't drilled all of his emotion out of him. There was hope for him. She said "Itachi, you have been accepted into this village. Will you stay here and be loyal to it and its leader?"

"Hai, if you are its leader."

Nekomi nodded with a slight smile. She said "I have not yet decided where you are to stay, Itachi." Nekomi left off a suffix awkwardly, not sure how to adress him. He was younger than her, but of high rank.

Itachi looked at her and asked, quietly, "Do I have a say?"

Nekomi said "It will be considered."

Itachi answered, not looking her in the eyes "I would stay with you." He said this quietly, almost embarassed. Nekomi was surprised. The council also looked surprised. Finally, Nekomi smiled. She said "Fine." He smiled slightly. He said "Thank you, bankage-sama." He looked up at her with a smile.

Nekomi shook her head slightly in wonder at him. How had he known to do that? How much had he gotten out of her clone? She needed to talk further with the boy. She said "Of course you'll have to take an examination to prove your skills to me. Your Konoha rank will not hold here."

Itachi looked startled at the sudden change of topic. Mareo asked "An examination, Nekomi-hime?"

Nekomi said "Hai, after the village is built. It will determine the rank of the citizens of the village."

Mareo asked "Rank?"

Nekomi said "Ninja rank." She smiled "I will be doing things a bit differently than some of you are used to. Now, I have some work to check on."

A month later...

Akado had proven himself in his contribution to work and nothing else had happened. Kisame was also proving to be very useful with water jutsus and with his huge chakra levels. Itachi had been living with Nekomi and the boys since the day he arrived.

In that month, much had been acomplished. Everyone had moved in and had finished their rooms. In another month they would have the village finished and it would be time for the examinations to begin. Since the end of the first week Nekomi had set up a training program and today she would begin determining the classes of everyone. It was another way in which banshougakure was different. There would be three classes of ninja in addition to rank. There would be Guard, Ground and Medic ninja. Guard ninja would be those with high chakra levels and average chakra control. Ground ninja would be those with with average chakra levels and good control. Medic ninja would be those with low to average chakra levels, but excellent chakra control. The way rank would be determined would also work a bit differently, but that was not a concern for another month.

Nekomi rose to do meditation that morning. Soon would be morning training in the newly completed training grounds. She smiled at Naruto and Gaara who she would let sleep until the call for morning training. Itachi was already up. She wasn't surprised to see him already meditating. He was the earliest riser out of the village. She asked "Mind if I join you?"

He shook his head once "Ohayo, oneesan."

Nekomi noticed the small smile on his face and also smiled slightly "Ohayo, Itachi-kun." He had started calling her big sister a week after he had moved in with them. He seemed kind of embarassed at the time and Nekomi had the same talk about emotions with him that she had with Haku. After that, Itachi seemed to latch on to the family he had come upon strongly. He was very protective of the boys and was rarely seen far from them. Naruto and Gaara got along well with him, especially Naruto. At first Gaara had seemed a little resentful at having another person added to the family, but he seemed to have grown on him a little.

Itachi turned to her "Who will start the examinations?"

Nekomi smiled "The examinations for class will start today. It will go in alphabetical order."

Itachi frowned a little. Nekomi said "You will be near the end with Naruto and Gaara. You will go after Gaara and before Naruto."

Itachi looked at her in surprise and some feeling. That meant...she accepted him...as part of her family...his eyes teared. Nekomi smiled "That ok with you?" He nodded.

The class examinations were much simpler than the level evaluations would be. The chakra control test would be a version of the excercise they had been practicing and Hisoka would evaluate their chakra levels.

Nekomi was tired by the end of the tests. She had recorded all of their scores mentally and on paper. She could tell Hisoka was ready to drop from the extended use of the byakugon. She was proud of her sons. Naruto and Gaara had both classed Guard. So had Zabuza and Haku and Kisame. It was tougher to place Itachi because he had very good control and good chakra levels. She finally decided to place him in the ground class. After the level examinations she would assign teams.

Nekomi was glad the day was nearly done. Today was the day that Akado would be moving out and into Kisame's room, who he seemed to have hit off a rivalry with that was bigger than the one he had with Zabuza. Hisoka and Miya were clearly relieved. Nekomi felt a little twinge of guilt of putting Akado with them. It wasn't really fair, but it had been the best she could think of at the time.

Nekomi sat up top. Akado walked by on his way down. She called "Don't throw any parties."

He grinned at her. "Wouldn't dream of it."

Nekomi thought 'He's like an irresponsible younger brother.' "I mean it."

"Of course." He grinned as he left. Nekomi sighed. She hoped he didn't become a bad influence on the boys.

They had all been training for the next month and the level examinations.

The level examinations took a week and Nekomi and the council members were the examiners, then they had to be examined themselves. Once it was completed, they would be put into teams.

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Naruto- Unranked guard nin, team purple Gaara- Unranked guard nin, team purple Zabuza- Chunnin guard nin, specializing in ninjutsu and kenjutsu, team purple Haku- Unranked guard nin, team purple Itachi- Unranked ground nin, team gold Kisame- Chunnin guard nin, specializing in ninjutsu and kenjutsu, team orange

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List of teams:

Red Orange Green Blue Purple Indigo Gold Silver Black

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Level examinations:

To obtain the rank of Genin: one must demonstrate a specialization in one of the ninja arts tested

Chunnin: one must demonstrate a specialization in two arts

Jounin: three arts

Arts tested and what is required to specialize in the art:

Genjutsu- can do 3 wide range and 3 short range attacks and can dispell strong illusions.

Ninjutsu- know one technique from each land and be able to perform perfectly.

Taijutsu- Come up with own fighting style and be able to use weights 5x body weight.

Kenjutsu- Come up with own fighting style and specialize in a weapon.

Medic Jutsu- Must master self-healing, energy transfer and healing

Kinjutsu- must know any 10 forbidden jutsu

Seals- Must know 5 basic and 3 complex seals.

Dojutsu- Must be mastered to highest form.

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The timeskip will be in the next chapter. I know a lot of you are looking forward to that. I will post it soon, within the next day or two probably, at the latest, sometime this week. 


	19. Chapter 19

Finally, the timeskip chapter. I know you're all ready for it. Well, here it goes.

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It was time to assign teams. Nekomi gathered everyone. She said "Teams will be done differently in Ban. There will be nine teams and everyone of age will be assigned to one of those teams. The first six teams will consist of unranked to Jonin. You will train with your team during training times. Listen as I call out the teams. Amaya Amenochiyuki, Sumiyo Ichi, Suzuko Kawa, Hideo Kanshin, Akio and Aiko Nohara and Yoshi Hinoke, you make up the red team. Please come to the front." They came up as the others made room for him. Nekomi said "Take a good look at each other. These are your teammates."

The two women looked at the children between them, with some confusion. The children looked at the adults and at each other. Nekomi continued "Each team has a general specialization. Red team's is genjutsu. Each team will have a mix of guard, ground and medic nin. Red team, you may disperse back into the crowd."

She paused as they did so, she could see the adults had questions for her. She said "Questions may be asked after the teams are called. Next, Morio Nohara, Kisame Hoshigake, Kane Inadzuma, Kishi Kawa, Ruri Shippuu, Mio Amatsubu and Ishigo Ichi, you make up team orange. Your general specialization is Ninjutsu. Come to the front."

The two women on the squad looked at each other. At least their squad wasn't almost completely made up of children, but the blue skinned guy was weird. They all dispelled back into the crowd and Nekomi's command.

"Mareo Raiu, Shina Amatsubu, Ryo Kawa, Tora Ikusei, Haru Tenkyuu and Taro Amatsubu make up team green. Your general specialization is Taijutsu." They repeated the process that the other two teams had gone through.

"Sakae Shippuu, Nyoko Raiu, Nami Watatsumi, Yuki Amenochiyuki, Juro Amagumo and Takeo Inadzuma make up team blue. Your general specialization is also Genjutsu." They met, then dispelled.

"Yasuko Tenkyuu, Zabuza Momoichi, Nariko Inadzuma, Haku momoichi, Naruto Wara and Gaara Wara, you make up team purple. Your general specialization is Kenjutsu."

Yasuko frowned a little. The problem wasn't that he was on a squad that also contained three children. He didn't understand why the princess put the mist swordsman in his team and he wondered if he would be personally accountable for the safety of her sons. Also, the mist swordsman's daughter was on the same team. There had to be a rule against that. He needed to talk to the kage. He dispelled with the others for now, though.

Nekomi continued "Kado Shippuu, Hoshi Tenkyuu, Miyo Ikusei, Tomoko Ikusei, Miwa Raiu and Hiro Shakunetsu make up team indigo. Your general specialization is Taijutsu." They met.

Miyo looked at his younger sister in dismay. Why did she have to be on his team? He'd never get any peace now. He sighed when it was time to dispell and went back to his father with an imploring look.

"Next is gold team. Miya Okibi, Kichi Nohara, Tetsu Kanshin, Saburo Kawa, Akira Amenochiyuki, Itachi Uchiha and Akado Wara will make up gold team. Your general specializations are Dojutsu and Genjutsu."

Itachi looked at Miya and he noticed the rest of the group looking at him. He looked at Nekomi questioningly. Why had she put him on this team? He wanted to be on the team with Naruto and Gaara.

"Silver team will consist of Miwa Ikusei, Jin Amatsubu, Kentaro Watatsumi, Mine Shakunetsu and Kuma Shakunetsu. Your general specializations are Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Seals." They met and dispelled.

Nekomi saw that there was going to be a long discussion about the make up of the teams. She had anticipated it. She knew when she was forming the teams that there would be a lot of questions and that not everyone would be happy about the teamups.

"Okay, the final team is the black team. It will consist of Hisoka Okibi, Saki Hinoke, Masato Amagumo and Kita Amagumo." They came up and met. Nekomi said "You may dispell. Before the questions begin, you will note that most teams have a council member in them. They will be the team leaders. Now, any questions from team red's leader?"

Someone asked "Only the leaders can ask questions?"

Nekomi said "Get back together with your groups and prepare your questions." They did. Nekomi gave them a few minutes, when most of them turned back to her, she asked "Team red?"

Amaya asked "Why are more children on my team?"

Nekomi asnwered "It is not because I do not think you are capable. It is the opposite. You are close to having a star rank in genjutsu and I believe you to be the best candidate to teach the youths on your team. You are not only skilled in Genjutsu, the specialization of the team, you are also a medic nin and can teach medic techniques to the team as well."

Amaya nodded. That seemed to be the biggest question. She then asked "Why do I have two from the same family on my team?"

Nekomi said "I find that twins work best together instead of apart. Is that all?" Amaya volunteered no more questions. "Orange team?"

Morio walked up. He said "If our team is to specialize in Ninjutsu, why is there a medic on the team?"

Nekomi nodded "A good question. Every team has at least one medic. Medic nin class may and should also learn offensive jutsus like ninjutsu. Are there other questions?" Nekomi saw Morio look at Kisame, but he said nothing.

"Team green?"

Mareo walked up "To put a brother and a sister on the same team. I am concerned that they will not work equally with the team as they will with each other."

Nekomi said "They were put together for a reason and they are expected to work equally with the entire team. Is that all?" He nodded. "Blue team."

Sakae walked up "No questions, bankage-sama." She stepped back.

"Purple team." Nekomi braced herself. This was the team she expected the most questions about.

Yasuko said "I am the only ground class of my team. The rest are guard save one. Kenjutsu is suited more to ground types."

Nekomi said "Kenjutsu is also suited to guard types. You have more questions."

"Hai." Yasuko looked uncomfortable "It is not customary for a parent and a child to be on the same team."

Nekomi said "Zabuza will work evenly with the rest of his team. I can assure you that he will not put his daughter over his team, but consider them equally." She looked at Zabuza and then at all of them "Team work is very important. I expect all of you to cooperate with your teams in training excersies and, in the future, on missions." She paused "I believe the main question on your mind is why both of my sons are on your team." He nodded slightly.

Nekomi said "Nekomi and Gaara work well together. Do not worry, they are capable boys. I do not expect you to babysit them. I do expect them to learn from you, though." He nodded, looking somewhat relieved.

"Indigo team."

Kado stepped up. He said "No questions, bankage-sama." Nekomi noticed two of the children didn't look too happy, but it looked like Kado had decided to handle it.

"Gold team."

Miya stepped up. She asked "Why was Itachi placed on my team? I understand he has mastered the Sharigan as fully as I have. What can I teach him?"

Nekomi said "Yes, I put you together because you both are sharingan users. I hope that you may teach each other."

Miya then looked uncomfortable "I am not a council member, bankage-sama, as Akado-san is on my team..."

Nekomi said "I selected the team with you in mind as the leader, Miya. You may take the role or leave it to another team member. It is your choice." She nodded. Nekomi saw that she was done.

"Silver team."

Miwa walked up "You have adressed the issue of parents and children being on the same team and of siblings, but..."

Nekomi said "Yes, on silver and on black team, I have put a couple together on the team. It is because their styles compliment each other. I expect them to act professionally when the group is together. If they can not do this, they will be reassigned to different teams. However, I would not have assigned them to the same team in the first place if I did not believe them capable of this." She looked at the two. They looked a little embarassed, but they nodded.

"Finally, black team"

Hisoka walked up "None of us have the same skill set, bankage-sama."

Nekomi nodded "I intended it to be this way. You will learn from each other, this way you will become well rounded ninja. Masato, Kita, I expect the same out of you that I expect out of Kuma and Mine." They nodded.

Nekomi said "You will begin training with your groups during tonight's training. You are only required to be with your groups for the training periods."

"Where will we train?"

Nekomi answered "I will post a scroll on the wall saying where each group will train. There will be a rotation within the week between underground and aboveground. That is all." Itachi walked up after they had been dismissed "oneesan..."

Nekomi knew what he wanted. She said "I know you wanted to be on the same team with Naruto and Gaara, Itachi, but I placed you on the team with Miya because I want you two to teach each other. You will still have time to hang out with them and train with them during your free time."

"Hai..." Itachi said, unhappily. He had known her long enough to know that it wasn't up for discussion.

Nekomi said "And we shall still have meditation in the morning before the village wakes." She smiled at him. He smiled back, slightly.

So five years passed by. A year after the teams were formed, Nekomi began sending out the reconaissance teams, the gold and silver teams out on missions to establish treaties with the smaller countries. Since most, if not all of these countries, had no ninja village, they got a few missions. Such an alliance and missions far away would have been impossible if she had not made all members of the two teams learn Inabikari, her teleportation jutsu. They didn't use it for just travel, it was also for evading capture, should they attract the wrong type of attention. Through the year, she had created enough crystals for there to be one for each member of the two teams.

Nekomi sat at her desk, they were busy enough going back and forth between villages. Also, because of these alliances, they had gained many new members. Over the years, their numbers had doubled. She smiled 'Our numbers our still small, but strong.' She had screened each new member of the village. She would and could not have a traitor within her small village.

She looked down at the treaty scrolls. Being a kage was difficult. She didn't only worry about her allied countries, she also worried about the relations between the main countries, because that would also affect the small ones. She started as there was a knock at her door "Come in."

Zabuza walked in and shut the door. He said "We need to talk, Nekomi."

Nekomi had been fearing this. She did owe Zabuza a talk. They had been dating for four years, quietly. She sighed and said "Put a silence seal on the door, would you?"

Zabuza had learned the seal from her a few years back. He did. He said "Nekomi, I know what happened to you was terrible, but I thought you were starting to get over it. I thought we..." He sighed.

Nekomi looked at him uncomfortably. She had been in a state of conflict about Zabuza since they had started dating, but the reason they had been doing it for so long was the same reason that caused the conflict in the first place. She said "I...can't...Zabuza..." She strained for the words. "Kami...if being kage is difficult, this is impossible..."

Zabuza asked "What is the problem?" He looked at her, willing her to look at him.

Nekomi looked up at him and cried "You know what the problem is!"

Zabuza locked eyes with her "No, I don't!"

Nekomi cried "Why are you doing this?"

Zabuza sighed and rubbed his neck. He said, in a calmer voice, but a tired one "Because I need to know where we stand, Nekomi. I...you're...I need to know if you feel the same way, Nekomi. We've dated long enough."

Nekomi avoided his gaze and sat down. She decided just to tell him what had been going on in her mind since. She said "There's so many things. I'm afraid to get that close to someone again, and then something like that happen...if that happened again...I'd lose it; I'd fall apart. The only thing that saved me last time..." Nekomi looked down and paused as she tried to calm down enough to keep her voice level. She continued "And...I still...I...I still miss Dai, Zabuza. I haven't gotten over him. I don't know if I ever will." Nekomi voice broke a little and she sniffed, tears threatening to fall. She held them back.

Zabuza frowned. He hated doing this, hated seeing her cry, so he had avoided talking about all this for as long as he could, but he was only a man. They couldn't date forever. He said "He wouldn't want you to stay alone forever."

Nekomi said "I know, but..."

"You have to move on, Nekomi, It's been six years."

Nekomi looked down. She said "I..."

Zabuza said "Look, I'm perfectly capable of protecting myself. You can quit worrying about that right now."

Nekomi sighed as she started on her practical worries, although she was glad to get away from the emotional ones. She said "Being a female kage, what will I do when I get pregnant? Hand the village over?"

Zabuza said "Only for the last month or so, you could use a henge for appearances."

Nekomi snorted "You make it sound so simple."

"You make it sound so hard, besides, who says I want any more kids, including weasel boy we've already got four."

Nekomi smiled a little. Itachi hated the nickname that Zabuza had given him. It had given Zabuza a good reason to learn how to deflect fire attacks. She chuckled when she remembered a particular moment back four years ago.

She, Itachi, Naruto and Zabuza had been out walking. Gaara was off with Haku, training.

Zabuza said "Hey, weasel boy."

Itachi said "That's not funny, I can't help what they named me."

Zabuza said "Yes it is, your name means weasel."

Itachi stressmarked. "So, Naruto's a fishcake, you don't see me calling him fishcake."

Zabuza grinned "Good idea. What'cha doin' over there, fishcake?"

Naruto frowned "Kassan, Zabuza called me a fishcake!"

Itachi grumbled "Fishcake's better than weasel."

Naruto asked "Does my name really mean fishcake?" Then he thought for a minute "Wait, that means you could eat me!"

Itachi said "Nobody's going to eat you. You just have the same name as food."

Naruto said "Oh, when do people eat 'naruto'?"

"In their ramen."

Naruto's eyes lit up "Really? Can I have some ramen with me in it?"

Nekomi chuckled.

Zabuza did too "So fishcake wants some fishcake in his noodles. Does weasel boy want some weasel in his barbeque?" He grinned at Itachi.

Itachi stressmarked again and looked at Nekomi.

Nekomi smiled at him, then said "Well, it's your fight, Itachi-kun, you started it by responding."

Itachi smirked "And I know how to end it. Katon: gogyaku no jutsu!"

Zabuza yelped as he dodged the fire attack. Naruto fell on the ground laughing as he watched the man put himself out. Itachi snickered and Zabuza threatened revenge. Nekomi smiled. Moments like that made them seem like a good, normal family, well, for a shinobi family, anyway.

Zabuza smiled a little, relieved that Nekomi seemed to be cheering up. He still didn't know what to do when girls cried. He said "Okay now. We've talked and decided that all of it can be dealt with, so you might as well go ahead and say I do."

Nekomi studied Zabuza, trying to see if he was joking. It was kind of hard to tell sometimes. She couldn't help smiling a little. If Zabuza did propose, she had always thought it would be abrupt and blunt. It was his personality. She said "We have talked and..." She looked at Zabuza, who seemed to be waiting, then it struck her. She asked, in shock, "Did you propose just then?"

Zabuza blushed "maybe." He then paused as he looked up at Nekomi. He then looked her in the face, not trying to hide his blush "Yes, so, yes or no?"

Nekomi was shocked again at being right. Zabuza had just proposed to her. her mind whirled, at first, saddening her by comparing how things had gone with Dai to Zabuza, but then she realized that Zabuza wasn't like Dai and he never would be, but he was still a good man. Then she thought over how she and Zabuza had first met and their adventures that they had together. He had always been there for her, protected and been strong for her when she needed him. He was patient and she could tell that he really cared for her. He wasn't Dai, but she realized Zabuza was right. It had been something she should have grasped years ago. She had to move on and let go of Dai. She felt as if a great weight had lifted off her shoulders and her heart. 'Dai, Ryoku, Shin...I will never forget you, but I have a new family now. Rest in peace.' She smiled brighter than she had in a long time.

Zabuza asked "Well?" He had been waiting for a few minutes and was starting to get kind of nervous.

"Yes."

"What?" Zabuza paused. The answer had come so suddenly he wanted to make sure that he hadn't imagined it. "Come again."

"Yes, I'll marry you."

Zabuza grinned "All right! Woo hoo!"

Nekomi laughed. Zabuza opened the door and ran out, whooping. One would think he was the teenager. Nekomi chuckled. It wasn't soon before she had Mareo in her office. He said "We all heard Zabuza across the village. Congratulations." He smiled.

Nekomi was a little embarassed "Did everyone know?"

Mareo laughed "It's been obvious from the start between you two. I'm happy for you. I wish you many happy children."

Miya Okibi walked in "He finally proposed?"

Nekomi blushed. Mareo said "Finally."

Miya smiled "Don't have too many kids."

Nekomi blushed, but smiled "Congratulations to you too, Miya. I heard the news from Amaya, your first birth is really special. 7 months to go?"

Miya nodded proudly "It's about time. We've been trying forever."

Akado poked his head in "That's an understatment. I remember how tense it was when I was there and then they'd go all quiet. It made me think they were up to something in there, if ya know what I mean." He pointed to his head. Miya hit him. Akado rubbed his shoulder. He would have gotten caught in the chest if he hadn't moved. "Hey, you should have seen the looks they were givin' each other."

Nekomi shook her head 'He doesn't learn.' Akado had gotten about a half of a little scene mimicking the Okibis when he got a fireball tossed at him. He yelped. Nekomi chuckled. "Now, now, enough of that. I don't want a charbroiled office." She turned serious. "I need the council in an hour. I have something serious involving trade to discuss with them." They left at her request and she hunted up her sons and Itachi and Haku. They would need to be present for this meeting.

Once they had all convened...

Nekomi said "So far, as you all know, I have only made treaties with the minor nations, being reluctant to make trade agreements and peace treaties with the main nations. However...I have been considering making trade agreements with the damiyos of the main lands. This would bypass the ninja villages. I wish to know your thoughts on this."

This was the first time she had mentioned this to the council. She expected there to be quite a debate about this and as she had expected, there was an uproar. Then Miwa stopped it "Bankage-sama, I thought this was a council meeting. Shouldn't it be just us here?" She looked at Naruto, Gaara, Itachi and Zabuza. There were also a few village members present, including Hisoka's wife, Miya and Akado.

Nekomi said "This is a council meeting, but each land that belongs to this village is not represented by the council. Beleive me when I say that there is a reason why they are here. Now, let us discuss the proposal."

Amaya asked "Let us weigh the advantages."

Hisoka said "The advantages would be banshou would recieve more income and missions would come in for more of our ninja. We would also have more resources available to us."

Miwa said "And possible allies in case of an attack."

Mareo said "There are many risks and disadvantages, however." He looked at Nekomi, who said "That sums up the advantages, though they shouldn't be ignored. Income and resources are important to a village. As we continue to grow, we will need more resources."

Mareo said "There are many concerns. Paramount, it will reveal our existence to the major nations if we trade with even one. Our existence will be proven and it will be difficult to remain hidden. It may cause us to be attacked."

Miya said "Alliances are often merely paper. What if we made allies and they betrayed us? Our village is not strong enough to overcome a seige from one of the major nations."

Nekomi frowned slightly as she let the concerns continue.

Hisoka said "Some of us in this village do not wish our identidies to become known or our lives will be in danger, if we would interact with the main lands, how would we keep ourselves and our families safe?"

Nekomi had spent some thought on that. She said "I would make it an option to wear a genjutsu necklace. The necklace is capable, as you all know, of making the user look like anyone or become invisible." She continued "Also, we would deal with only the damiyos, not the hidden villages."

Miya said "The damiyos will inform the kages of our existence."

Nekomi said "Our existence may become known, but we will not be found. There are sunsets everywhere and there are cliffs everywhere. The land I plan to exclude from these arrangements is Water. I propose to make trade agreements and perhaps alliances with the damiyos in the land of fire, wind, earth and lightning."

Amaya said "We are allied and have trade agreements with the land of bears, the land of snow, the land of the waterfall and the land of the moon. There are other, smaller countries that we could ally ourselves with."

Nekomi said "It is true that the only alliances we have made thus far are with shinobi countries."

Amaya said "It may be wise to ally ourselves with non shinobi countries as well, such as the land of River and the land of Waves."

Nekomi nodded "I agree that it would be wise to ally ourselves with these countries as well, especially the land of Waves because it would be a good ally to have in underminding the mizukage." She paused. "It is a particular event coming up in the near future that brought the idea of forming these alliances to mind."

Everyone focused on her. She said "Konoha is hosting the Chunnin exams this year." Nekomi noticed her son tense. She put a hand on his shoulder as a signal to keep his peace.

Miwa asked "But we do rank differently here..." She looked at Nekomi in confusion.

Nekomi said "Anyone who would go would go as a test to their skill, but it would not affect the rank they hold in the village. The main point of going to the village would be to instigate trade agreements with the damiyos while so many are in the same place."

Hisoka scowled "Konoha is a dangerous place, for more than me and my wife, hime, have you considered that the snake may have had relations with more than the Uchiha clan in Konoha?"

Nekomi frowned. She knew how Hisoka hated Konoha. She said "I am not fond of Konoha myself, but I am not going to hold any but polite conversation with the Hokage. I will make arangements with damiyos only."

Mareo asked, in an elevated voice, "You are not considering going?!"

Nekomi said "I would not leave something so important to clones or anyone else. I wish to make the arangements personally."

Miya said "Wouldn't it be found suspicious for an unknown woman to be sitting amongst damiyos and talking to them?"

Nekomi paused. She hadn't thought of that. Her mind raced. "Perhaps it would take more than one. I could use jikyuu bushin but I would need to determine the number of damiyos I am to contact."

Mareo and the other council members frowned. She was going off into thought again. How much had she planned this out?

Kado said "A kage cannot abandon their village."

Nekomi said "The outcome of the agreements would lead to the betterment of the village and all the people who reside in it."

"What if you are discovered? Who will you tell them you are? How will you avoid revealing the village?"

"Why would they listen to you?" This last question surprised Nekomi more than the others. It came from Zabuza. It also seemed to surprise the council members.

Zabuza said "They cannot know who you are. What would you say to them? Hello, I'm the kage of a small hidden village and I would like to ally with you and your land?"

Nekomi frowned, realizing her arrogance in thinking that she could just get a damiyo to agree to an alliance that easily. She shook her head at herself and said "I was being arrogant. Forgive me. Let us review the methods we used to obtain agreements with the smaller countries. We used diplomacy and a show of skill, did we not? Our allies do not know what I look like nor who I am. Neither are they aware of where the village is. How did we accomplish that?"

Mareo said "The process was helped along by money as well as a show of skill. We don't have the funds to impress the main countries with. The smaller countries need help and are more willing to accept it from unknown sources. the main countries will not be so accepting."

Nekomi frowned. It was true that they didn't have a lot of money coming in, but their village was still small enough where it wasn't a huge problem and they mostly used trade and barter for services, but money would be useful...then she blinked, remembering something she hadn't thought about in a long time. She had completely forgotten about it "Akado."

He looked at her "Huh?"

Nekomi said "When I left, I only got one scroll out of the family vault. Now, only Waras can retrieve them, so..."

Akado said, nervously, "Oh, right, the currency scroll. I, uh, have it in my room."

Nekomi said "Retrieve it."

"Now?" Akado asked, looking at everyone.

"Yes, Inabikari and come back." Nekomi said, suspicious about how nervous Akado was acting. What had he done? He was soon back with the scroll.

"Heh, here it is." He showed it to her but didn't hand it over.

"Give it to me."

"You're right in the middle of a meeting. Let's do this later."

Nekomi said "Give it, Akado." He handed it over reluctantly. Nekomi unsealed it and her eyes widened. Half the money was gone. She closed the scroll and said calmly "Akado, come here."

He stayed put, resisting the urge to back away. "I want to talk to you in private for a second, Akado. Come over here before you make me get up."

Akado flinched at the threat in her voice and went over. He was in for it now. He said "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. At least half of it's there, right? That's pretty good." He rambled on. "I'm sorry."

Nekomi stressmarked and took Akado's hands. "Wakeshin no Jutsu."

Akado found himself in the dark shared space of their minds. Suddenly a fire flared up. Akado flinched. She was really mad.

Nekomi yelled "You baka! I thought you were an idiot before! Now I'm positive. How did you spend half of the ENTIRE fortune of the Wara clan?!"

Akado flinched again and said "Hey, it took some money to chase after you and I...erm..." He coughed to cover up the next part "andIgambledalittle"

Nekomi narrowed her eyes "Gambled how much?"

Akado wouldn't look at her "Most of it."

Nekomi seethed, then she calmed herself. In a minute she smiled sadistically.

The smile scared Akado more than the yelling and fire had. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Nekomi said "Oh, I've just thought of your punishment for being an idiot."

Akado blanched. What was she going to do to him?

Nekomi said "You get to babysit the terrors, for a week."

Akado's eyes widened "No, not that! Target practice with Itachi, human pincushion with Haku, but don't make me babysit those little monsters."

Nekomi smiled. The 'terrors' were Naruto, Gaara, Haku and their group of friends. Usually, the three would lead the group and they wouldn't be too out of control, but she might loosen up on punishing them if they were bad, just this week. She had made Akado babysit once as part of his month under watch and she had noted how hard he had it. She said "Your punishment is decided. One word of complaint and it's two weeks." Akado shut up. Nekomi dropped the jutsu. She said "Akado, I'm done with you. If I need you later on in the meeting, I'll let you know. Your new 'job' starts tomorrow." He flinched again and left.

Zabuza asked "What'd you do to him?"

Nekomi said "He was the one who had the money scroll all this time." She shook her head. "I'm making him babysit the young ones for a week as punishment for spending so much of it, but there's still half and that's enough to live on for a while, and make an impression upon the kages." She reopened the scroll and showed them how much was left. It was clear they were impressed.

Nekomi said "Now, about my plan..."

Naruto frowned. Why did his kassan want to go to Konoha? It was a horrible place. He hated it there. He looked at Gaara and Itachi. It was clear Itachi didn't like the idea either. He stayed quiet for the rest of the meeting however.

It was night when Nekomi walked back to the office to put back the scroll. He spoke up once they followed her to the office. "Kassan, why are you going to go to Konoha?"

Nekomi said "I know how much you don't like Konoha, Naruto-kun, but I need to do this, for the village."

Naruto said "But you said you'd never leave us!"

Nekomi said "I am kage now, I have to do this for the sake of the village! I do not want to leave you behind. You are no longer the beaten blonde child that I saved in Rain. Come with me to Konoha."

Naruto was shocked. He said "But...someone will recognize me, and...I..."

Nekomi said "That's what genjutsu necklaces are for."

Naruto paused. Nekomi said "Besides, I was hoping that my sons and soon to be daughter would accompany me. I am confident that your skills would shine in the chunnin exam Konoha is going to give." She saw Itachi felt left out. She said "I think you're just a bit high level for them, Itachi-kun, but I would also like for you to come." He smiled.

Itachi had been thinking about going after his brother since he had come here, but...he was afraid, of being caught, of his brother hating him, and of giving away his village if he was caught. He asked "How would we participate? If we are to be genin entering the exams and we're to keep secret our existence, where will we be from?"

Nekomi smiled. "I thought of that. You would be genin from the land of the waterfall. I am going to make arrangements for official papers from their ruler."

Zabuza coughed. Nekomi asked "You have something to say, Zabuza-kun?"

Zabuza said "Well...ano..."

Haku smiled and said cheerfully "Toussan wants to know when the wedding's going to be."

"Haku!" Zabuza cried, embarassed.

Nekomi paused. She had no idea. She hadn't given it that much thought since she accepted Zabuza's proposal. Today had been a really eventful day. She said "Ah...before the chunnin exam?"

Zabuza sweatdropped. Nekomi said, embarassed, "Okay, Let me put up the scroll and we should all get to bed." She stored the scroll and inabikari'd.

Haku smiled and said "Am I going to get a new little brother or sister? Make it a sister."

Zabuza blushed "No, you're not!"

"Why? Aren't you and Nekomi-neesama going to..."

Zabuza blushed redder and covered her mouth "Shut it Haku." Haku mumbled.

Naruto asked "Going to do what?"

Zabuza said "Nothing."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I decided to cut it off here and save some for the next chapter. Don't forget to RandR. Catch you later. 


	20. Chapter 20

One comment, I've had some people saying that I should further develop my characters/village. Don't worry, I have developed them, I'm just not concentrating on putting all the details down in the story because if I did that the story would become OC centric and I'm trying to avoid that. I'll put down info when I think it's necessary to the furthering of the story.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A week had gone by.

While Nekomi was in her office, working on the arrangements for the Chunnin exams, several other women were working on the wedding plans.

Amaya, a jonin medic-nin put herself in charge of three other women, Miya, Shina and Saki. Others had wanted to help, but Amaya had told them they could help with the set up, any more than four people planning would cause more problems than it would solve.

Shina said "Nekomi-hime's finally getting married. I hope it goes well"

Saki said "I need to find a man."

Miya snorted "You have no trouble finding one, your problem is keeping one."

"Hey!"

Amaya smiled "That's enough, you two. This is going to take a lot of planning."

Shina said "Especially considering the things that will have to be brought in. It will take months to get together."

Amaya said "Hai, which is why we must start now."

With Nekomi...

Nekomi was in her office, unaware of the planning going on with the other women. She was concentrating on different arrangements. First, she would have to talk to waterfall, to see if its leader would vouch for her ninja. She had already determined who she would ask to come. She needed to figure out a way to communicate with the damiyos. She frowned. It had been the weak link in her plan. She tapped the end of her pen on her scroll, thinking.

They had already finished group training for the day. Zabuza was training Ishigo, Naruto and Gaara. He was also trying to train Haku, but her attention had been caught by a bird. "Haku, it's time for you to train with your senbon. Leave it alone."

"Toussan..." Haku pleaded "It's so cute! And I think it lost it's mother. Can I keep it?"

Zabuza stressmarked "No, Haku. You already have two mice. You can't have a bird. Besides, it would eat your other pets."

"No it wouldn't. This kind of bird only eats fish, Nekomi-san told me so."

Zabuza stressmarked "The answer is still no, Haku, you have enough pets."

"But toussan..." Haku used her puppydog eyes "Onegai...look at it. It's all alone and it doesn't have a kassan or toussan. It looks so sad..."

Zabuza tried to resist, but he sighed. He had yet to beat her puppydog eyes no jutsu. He said "Fine, but you watch it. I don't want it going in the apartment and keep it away from me."

Haku ran up and hugged him "Arigato, toussan!" She grinned and ran off after the bird.

Ishigo said "Some tough guy you are."

Zabuza said "Shut up, runt, and let's see what you've learned with that staff."

Ishigo paled a little. His weapon of choice had become an extendable staff. Even though he was a taijutsu specialist, Zabuza still made him do weapons training with him and when he trained with his staff, Zabuza sparred against it with his zanbato. He said "Hey, shouldn't you use a staff too?"

Zabuza asked "Why start now? Besides, it makes you stronger. Let's go." He grinned and ran at Ishigo who immediately went to defensive.

Naruto and Gaara were left to train by themselves for the moment. Naruto asked "Where's Itachi-niisan?"

Gaara said "I don't know. He's supposed to be here. Kaasan said he needed to keep sharp with his weapons practice." He smiled.

Itachi said "I didn't know you did jokes, Gaara-kun."

Naruto and Gaara jumped. Itachi smiled and fingered his necklace "Combination of a genjutsu necklace and seishougakure no jutsu."

Naruto cried "You've got to teach me that!"

Itachi said "I could still find you. You don't have good enough chakra control to do it as good as me."

Naruto said "Teach me, I can do it."

Itachi said "Gaara has a better chance of learning it than you do."

Naruto frowned "I bet you I can learn it."

Itachi smiled "Okay, you've got a week. If you can learn it well enough where I can't find you by the end of the week..."

Naruto said "You make me ramen whenever I want it, for a whole week."

Itachi frowned. That could seriously interfere with his training if the runt learned it. But he smirked. If it came to that, he could use his Sharingan. He was sure that he couldn't master the technique that well. It took him two weeks to get it down where Miya couldn't detect it. He said "Fine and when you don't learn it by the end of the week and I find you," He paused to think of what he wanted him to do. He smirked "Vegetables instead of ramen for a week."

Naruto's eyes widened. That would be horrible! Naruto said, with a grin, "When I win, you have to cook the ramen in an apron like Miwa's!"

Itachi shuddered at the thought. Miwa's apron was Pink and frilly. He smirked himself. "When you lose, you have to not only eat the vegetables, you have to cook them too."

Naruto gulped. He knew he should have taken cooking lessons with Haku. No matter, he was going to win. He had to. If he went without ramen for a week, he was going to die. He just knew it. Besides, Itachi in a pink apron making ramen would be the most hilarious thing on earth and he had to see it. He frowned. Itachi said he couldn't get it because his chakra control wasn't good enough. He said "Okay. Deal." He looked at Itachi "Tell me how you do it."

Itachi gave him a brief explanation with a smile. There was no way the blonde could pick up the technique from that. He smiled as he saw the frown of concentration on the blonde's face.

Naruto sat down and plucked a blade of grass and put it on his forehead and closed his eyes.

Gaara said "You don't think he can do it, do you?"

Itachi said "No. It took me two weeks to perfect it. There's no way he can get it in one."

Gaara smiled "It's win win for me. If he wins" he laughed "I'm getting blackmailing material on you." He returned Itachi's glare with a smile "If he loses, he's going to eat more vegetables, like kassan wants."

Itachi asked "You going to make a bet yourself?"

Gaara thought about it, then he shook his head. "Kaasan says not to gamble, besides, I'll be happy enough seeing you in a pink apron...or, Naruto cooking." He added the last part as an afterthought.

Itachi felt only a little nervous. Gaara seemed to think he had a chance, but he couldn't. He wasn't that good. He frowned.

Gaara smiled. This was going to be interesting. He watched Zabuza and Ishigo. Ishigo had gotten better in the past six years, but Zabuza kept upping the offense, he had even started enhancing his moves with chakra. Ishigo didn't seem to notice. He wondered if he would notice soon.

Zabuza saw Gaara just sitting there and said "Hey, you need to practice. What's fishcake doing?"

Gaara said "Naruto's working on his chakra control."

Zabuza stopped as Ishigo started to wear down. In truth, he was beggining to tire a little too, but he wouldn't show it. The boy had gotten good. He smiled slightly. He supposed he should stop calling him a boy. He was a man now. He asked "Why is Naruto working on chakra control? He's supposed to be practicing with his sword."

Gaara said "He's trying to learn a new technique as part of a bet with Itachi."

Zabuza asked, interested, "What's the bet?"

Gaara said "If Naruto can't learn the technique in a week good enough that Itachi can't find him, he has to eat vegetables that he cooks himself for a week. If he can, Itachi has to make him ramen whenever he wants it and he has to do it in Miwa's apron."

Zabuza smirked "Interesting."

Naruto was trying his best to keep his concentration. He lifted the leaf off his head with his chakra and held it for a minute before it fell. He sweated. Chakra control was so hard. He needed help. He sought out Haku.

Later that day, when it was time for the evening meal in the cafeteria...

The news of the bet had spread to most of the village and many had made bets on the outcome of the match. Nekomi heard about it from her assistant an hour earlier. She was also interested to see the outcome of the challenge. She sat down with her food with the rest of her family and they all started eating. She noticed Naruto seemed off in his own little world. He was mouthing something as he held his hand over his bowl of soup and his brow was furrowed.

"Hey, fishcake!" Naruto jumped and his soup splashed. He looked up, startled, to see Saki, the crazy lady with the black hair and blue eyes that liked swords a little too much. "Nani?" Then he cried "Don't call me fishcake!"

She grinned "I heard about your bet. You better not lose, kid, I'm counting on you."

Naruto frowned a little. He asked "What are my odds?"

A dark haired man with glasses walked up "The odds equally favor either side."

Itachi was surprised. He said "They can't be that good."

Masato said evenly "You have the superior chakra control, but Naruto-san has surprised us before."

Itachi knew he was referring to when Naruto had learned the kage bushin from their mother. He frowned, as he realized that Naruto had a better chance than that of learning the technique if he realized that he could use kage bushin to learn faster. He hadn't shown he knew that. If he figured it out...no matter. His Sharingan could defeat it. He looked at Nekomi, pleading with her not to tell him about the kage bushin ability.

Nekomi saw Itachi's pleading look and wondered what it was about. He mouthed 'kage bushin' She realized his worry. She smiled. She hadn't yet told Naruto about that ability of the kage bushin, wanting him to figure it out himself. She mouthed back 'I won't.' He smiled in relief.

For the next week, Naruto was scarce, showing up for team training excercises and then dissapearing again to train.

Naruto lay up top. It was getting dark. He had been working hard all week to learn the technique, working on chakra control excercises and on the technique, practising it on Gaara. He was close, but Gaara could still sense him. If Gaara could, Itachi could too. He scowled. It wasn't just the vegetables. He wanted to prove to Itachi that he was just as good of a shinobi as he was. He had only 16 hours left before he had to demonstrate. That was counting straight from now till then with no sleep. What was he doing wrong? There had to be a faster way. Since Gaara was gone, maybe he could use kage bushin to train with. Then the thought struck him like a bolt of lightning. The kage bushins! "Baka!" He berated himself. He just now remembered that kage bushin retained their memories. If he could use them to train, he could get their memories. He could learn the technique. He could win. He grinned and was about to create the bushin when his kassan came up.

"Naruto-kun, it's time for bed."

Naruto said "I can't go to bed tonight, Kassan. I have to train for tomorrow."

Nekomi said "You won't be able to do as well with no sleep."

Naruto shook his head "I have to. It will take all night, but.." He paused and grinned at her "I'm going to beat Itachi-niisan!"

Nekomi smiled. She supposed he could be let to stay up "Just this once, Naruto-kun." He nodded with a grateful smile. "Mind if I leave a bushin to watch?" He shook his head. Nekomi created a single jikyuu bushin. She would have made a shadow clone, but it would run out of energy before the night was over. She went back down "Good luck."

"Arigato!" Naruto cried. He watched as his mom's bushin went and sat down in the distance. Naruto paused, to concentrate and yelled "Taju Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Over a hundred Narutos poofed into existence. "Yosh!"

There was a commotion about the sudden burst of chakra above ground. It settled down once it was identified as Naruto's. Some bets were changed.

The next day...

Naruto had been carried in for breakfast by the bushin. When Naruto was seated, she dispelled with a salute. Nekomi's eyes widened in surprise. That many shadow clones...very impressive.

Zabuza asked "Is he going to be ok?"

Nekomi said "Just a case of chakra exhaustion. Knowing Naruto, he'll be well enough for the challenge by lunch. It's not something that requires a large amount of chakra, after all."

Itachi asked "What did he do last night?"

Nekomi said "He trained." She left it at that, with a smile "Good luck, Itachi-kun. You're going to need that Sharingan of yours."

Naruto revived at the smell of breakfast and like Nekomi had predicted, he was back to his old self by lunch and the time of the challenge. Nekomi said "The test will be done above ground. Naruto will be allowed a genjutsu necklace as..."

Naruto interrupted with a grin "Don't need one, kassan." Everyone turned to look at him with surprise. He said "Itachi developed seishougakure from meisaigakure. I've combined the two."

Nekomi shook her head, suprised that he wouldn't take the necklace, but then again, that was Naruto. She said "Very well. The test will take place within the boundaries. Your task, Itachi, is to catch Naruto within ten minutes. If you cannot, Naruto wins." Itachi nodded. Naruto grinned. "Begin." Naruto and Itachi jumped away from each other and Naruto dissapeared. Nekomi had known it was coming, but even she was surprised as she felt as well as saw him dissapear. She saw Itachi look around, then activate his sharingan. She walked over to Miya who had activated hers as well, to watch. She shook her head in amazement. "Amazing, are you sure he's still there? I can't see him." Nekomi looked at Hisoka, who activated his byakugon. He paused as he scanned the landscape. He said "There is something...but it's not defined. It's like the edges are blurred when it moves. Could that be him?"

Nekomi frowned slightly, then grinned. She asked "Hisoka-san, you have observed seishougakure and meisaigakure before, yes?"

He nodded. "My wife has shown me both after she picked up the former from Itachi, but with both, I could see through them. This is...amazing."

Nekomi smiled "Hai, he's one amazing boy."

Itachi knew the clock was running out, but he couldn't sense Naruto, not with or without the sharingan. He couldn't see him, he couldn't detect his chakra. He couldn't hear him moving either. What was left? He didn't have an Inuzuka's nose, so he'd have to either find someway to make him visible or trap him. Thinking quickly, Itachi flew through handsigns and spat out a puddle of mud big enough to cover the clearing and he watched with his sharingan. He found the footsteps and ran over.

Naruto had thought he had it made until Itachi made the mud field. Now he was heading straight for him. He stopped himself from panicking. Mud was water and dirt, right? Maybe he could walk on it like he did on water. That should make his movements less noticeable. He stepped up on top of the mud and backed away a little.

Itachi grabbed thin air. 'He moved again? I didn't see it. Did he figure out running on top?' Then he saw dripping mud and a splash. He reached out to grab Naruto.

Naruto couldn't hold the jutsu any longer. He'd soon lose the other jutsu as well. He was tired. He cringed as he realized he was backed into a corner. He couldn't lose...

Just then, when Itachi's hand was an inch away from Naruto's head, "Time!"

Naruto breathed out in relief and let the jutsus drop "I'm beat!"

Itachi's eyes widened in disbelief "You were that close!"

Naruto grinned tiredly "I want some ramen, two bowls please, and don't forget the apron."

Itachi was torn between being annoyed and amazed. He was annoyed highly that he had lost the bet, but he was amazed that Naruto had learned the justu so well. He sighed. He had been so close to catching him. He said "You're going to have to be in the kitchen to eat it."

"Yeah."

"Can you move?" Itachi asked, looking at the slumped form of the blonde.

Naruto tried "Yeah, just."

Itachi said "Good because I wasn't going to carry you."

Naruto said "I don't need you to." He got up and wobbled to the kitchen.

Gaara smirked at the scene the losers made and chuckled as Itachi took Miwa's pink apron from her with a red face. He decided he had to see this and followed several others to the kitchen.

Things went on normally, for the next two weeks, well as normal as they can be with Itachi in a pink, frilly apron for half of it. The chunnin exam was now in two months exactly. She was in her office, working on finalizing the plans, when Amaya came in. She said "Next Saturday."

Nekomi asked "Next Saturday what?"

Amaya answered "Your wedding. It's on next Saturday."

Nekomi's eyes widened. The wedding, already? She opened her mouth.

Amaya said "It will be the best time and it's all planned out. All that's left is making the kimono and the yukata"

Nekomi said "This is all very sudden..."

Amaya said "I'll take care of everything, now I need to get your measurements for the dressmaker." She took out a measuring tape and started taking measurements. Nekomi asked "Has Zabuza been erm..measured yet?"

Amaya said "Him next." She had the end of the tape in her teeth as she wrote down the last measurement. She then left "I'll be back." Nekomi watched her leave, bemused. Her wedding. She would be married soon, for the second time. She thought back over what she had heard Haku say with a blush and thought on the possibility of another child. Then the girl herself came into her office. She had stars in her eyes "Ohayo!"

"Ohayo, Haku-chan." Nekomi smiled.

Haku said "I've been to weddings before, but yours and toussan's going to be the best! There's going to be...oops, I'm not supposed to talk about that, but it's going to be big and I saw toussan in his yukata. Can I see you in your kimono? I bet its pretty! I'm getting a new one too. Are Naruto and Gaara going to be wearing yukatas?"

Nekomi blinked, trying to take in the hyper girl. "Haku, have you been into the sugar again?"

Haku said "Sumiyo made sweets. I tested them out for her."

"I can see, didn't Zabuza tell you to lay off the sweets?"

Haku pleaded "Don't tell toussan..."

Nekomi shook her head "I won't, but you'll give yourself away if you don't calm down a bit." The girl nodded. Nekomi sent her back to the kitchen to work with Sumiyo.

A week later...

The wedding was tomorrow and the chunnin exams was now in a month and three weeks, they didn't have much time left, but finally, Nekomi had most of her focus on the wedding instead of the chunnin exams.

She was trying on her kimono which was red and white. It was white with a red trim and red blossoms on it. Zabuza had a dark blue, almost purple yukata. Haku had a red kimono and the boys had opted to wear yukatas similar to Zabuza's, but a lighter blue. Although he wasn't required to, Itachi also dressed in a yukata, although his was black.

Nekomi was trying on her kimono again, Sakae Shippuu, the dressmaker, was determined to make it perfect. She had tried it on so many times...it was a pretty kimono, but she didn't want to see it again for a long time. She said "If you get it to fit any better, Sakae, I will not be able to remove it after the wedding."

Sakae said "The wedding dress must be perfect. It is important, especially since you are our kage. You must look perfect. We must begin on your hair early in the morning to get it ready."

Nekomi sweatdropped. The wedding was in the late afternoon. How much could be done with her hair? She had to sit through dressings up for her father's council, but it only took a couple of hours to get everything ready, bath, dress and hair. All that time for hair? She opened her mouth, only to get a shake of the head from Sakae "No breathing yet, Bankage-sama." She smiled "Or I may have to do this again." Nekomi thought about how lucky Zabuza was, that he didn't have to go through this much.

Zabuza was growing more and more nervous. He had never been married before. He knew how he felt about Nekomi, but...no, he told himself, it would be no different from when they were dating. He shook his head, but it would. He would be the husband of the kage. He hoped it didn't complicate things for her too much.

Akado said "If you don't stop pacing, you're going to wear a hole in the floor."

Zabuza stopped "What do you want?"

Akado turned serious. He said "Why do you think I tried so hard to find Nekomi?"

Zabuza looked at him, wondering where the man was going with this.

Akado continued, after a minute wait "My first thought was to recreate our clan, since we were the last Waras left." He paused "But we are too much alike. I have come to see her like a sister." He got up "I don't know why I came in here really, I guess it's just to say that you'll have a lot of enemies if you hurt her, and..." He paused again, then smiled "And if anybody was going to marry her, I'd have it be you."

Zabuza was touched, but he wouldn't show it. That would kill his tough guy image, or at least what was left of it. He said "Thanks, but what am I supposed to do until tomorrow?"

Akado grinned "I'd offer a spar, but you don't want to mess up your..." Akado paused as there was a puff and Zabuza appeared in front of him changed. Akado laughed as he saw the yukata on the bed.

Zabuza said "I've been dying to get out of that thing, but I'm supposed to be wearing it to 'stretch it out' or something. Let me get my zanbato." He got his sword and went outside with Akado to spar.

Early the next morning...

The whole village was up early. Nekomi was practically sewn into her elegant kimono and in another room, Zabuza just was able to get into his yukata which seemed to have shrunk overnight.

For Nekomi, the morning seemed to stretch on forever and yet be going at a blinding pace. It was finally time for the wedding.

Haku, Gaara, and Naruto sat in their places until it was time for them to join the ceremony.

Haku said "Isn't oneesan pretty?"

Gaara smiled. Naruto complained "This is boring." He was shushed.

Gaara said "You have such a short attention span."

Naruto pouted. "I'm hungry."

Gaara said "Your always hungry."

Haku said "Shhh. They're talking."

Itachi watched the wedding with a smile. She deserved to be happy. He hoped Zabuza knew what he was in for. There were several men in the village that would be more than willing to take his place.

The wedding had taken much less time than the planning, as weddings tend to do. Naruto said "Yatta! Now we can eat!"

Haku bopped him on the head. "You weren't even paying attention to the wedding."

Naruto rubbed his head "Itai...I was so..."

Haku said "You were paying more attention to the refreshments than oneesan and toussan."

Gaara said "Kaasan's your kaasan now too, Haku."

Haku realized he was right. She hadn't had a mother in...a very long time. Her eyes teared. Nekomi had always acted like a mother figure to her, but now, she'd actually have a mother... She sniffed.

Naruto said "Good going Gaara, you made her cry."

Haku shook her head at Naruto with a smiled "I'm crying because I'm happy." She turned to look at her toussan and her new kaasan, who hadn't yet broken the kiss that sealed their bond.

Akado spoke up from off to the side. "Hey, save some for later. Some of us would like to eat sometime this century."

Naruto laughed when Akado got a fireball thrown at him by Miya.

Akado joined them a couple of minutes later, looking a little burned "What are you laughing about, fishcake?"

Gaara smirked "I think you lost some hair in that one."

Akado felt his hair with his hands. Then frowned at Gaara, who was laughing. "Real funny."

Nekomi and Zabuza walked over. Nekomi smiled at them all. Zabuza said "Heh, I bet you want to get out of that yukata, don't ya fishcake?"

Naruto said "Stop calling me that! I'm not seven anymore! I'm a shinobi now!"

Zabuza said "Bet you want to get out of that yukata, don't ya fishcake?"

Naruto stressmarked, then decided to ignore Zabuza "Yeah, it's hot."

Zabuza grinned "Too bad, Amatsubu-san is going to paint all of us, after the refreshments, so you're stuck in it for about...the next three or four hours." Zabuza didn't like being in his yukata either, but the reaction of the blonde was priceless. He said "Now, now, remember your manners, Naruto-kun."

Naruto sighed "Well, at least we get to eat."

Haku said "Not yet, toussan and ...kaasan have to talk to everyone first."

Naruto sighed and looked at the food. Then an idea formed. He grinned.

Haku and Gaara saw the grin and looked at Naruto worried.

"What are you going to do?"

Naruto put a finger over his lips and dissapeared.

Gaara tried to avoid looking at Haku because he knew if he did he would crack up. She was holding back a laugh too at the flying ricecake, wondering when they adults would catch on.

Soon all of the adults stopped what they were doing to look at the dissapearing food.

Nekomi smiled and reached out with her arm, to catch a startled Naruto who reappeared. "Naruto..."

The sight of him trying to make an innocent face with a piece of rice sticking to the side of his mouth was too much and she burst out laughing. Naruto crossed his arms in a huff at being laughed at.

Nekomi smiled down at him, warmly, then said "Well, let's go ahead and eat. Since my son has decided to test the food for us." Everyone got some food and started eating.

Once they had sat down to eat, Nekomi's mind was threatening to drift back to the matter of the chunnin exams.

Zabuza said "No you don't. You don't get to think about business for the rest of the day."

Nekomi smiled "I know, but..."

Zabuza said "No buts."

Nekomi noticed Haku kept looking at her throughout the meal and she thought 'That's right. Haku hasn't had a mother since she was very small, before Zabuza found her. Now she'll be my daughter and the boys, Zabuza will be their father now. She smiled as she wondered if the boys would call Zabuza toussan or not, knowing Naruto, he wouldn't do it, just to tick Zabuza off. It would be different for all of them, but good.

This sent her mind off to thinking of the good that the new alliances would do, only to get poked in the ribs. "Hey!" She laughed.

Zabuza said "You were thinking about business again. Stop it now."

Nekomi smiled. "I can't help it."

Zabuza said "Well then I'll just have to distract you." He leaned over and kissed her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Forgive any grammar mistakes, as always. I wanted to get this out tonight and not have it wait for a couple of days. Don't forget to RnR. Ja ne. 


	21. Chapter 21

Hey readers, here's the next chapter of Found in the rain. Enjoy.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nekomi looked around her. They were getting ready to Inabikari to Waterfall, where they would be leaving from for the exam and where they would also get their papers and headbands.

She was coming as a representative of waterfall. There were three jonins and their teams.

The first team was Naruto, Gaara and Haku under Zabuza. The second team was Tora, Haru and Takeo under Ishigo and the third team was Itachi, Miwa and Taro under Shina. All of them wore genjutsu necklaces to disguise their true appearances. "Ready?"

She saw many excited faces in the crowd. Even Naruto had become excited. They wanted to test their skill against the biggest and supposed best of the five nations. Most of the village had come up top to see them off. Nekomi looked at Amaya "Amaya, I leave you in charge of the village and the council while I am gone. I trust you will do just as fine a job."

"Hai, Bankage-sama."

They formed a circle and inabikari'd.

They showed up in the circle just outside of Waterfall and they walked up to the gates.

"Stop. Who goes there?"

Nekomi slipped out her necklace and waved it about for a second. The others did too.

The guard recognized them at once "Oh! It is you! I will go let him know you are coming." He left to let the other guard take over. They waited at the gates until the guard came back and then they left with him.

Their leader called himself a kage, though he wouldn't be recognized as one because he wasn't one of the great nations. He said "Welcome, I expected you. These are the people who you will bring with you?"

"Hai. Will you add teams of your own?"

He shook his head "Iie, I will not send my own teams this time. It would look suspicious for a small country such as mine to have so many teams competing."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

He smiled "You, your land, and people have helped mine out a great deal. I could do no less." He handed over the papers. "It would be appropriate to leave tomorrow if you are travelling at normal ninja speed."

Nekomi nodded "We will."

"You also have the use of the Suzukage hot springs and inn for the night."

"Arigatou gozaimasu." He handed them their papers and slips of paper with his signature for the use of the inn/hot springs.

Shina said "Oh, a hot springs! I haven't been to one of those in forever!"

Nekomi smiled "It will be nice."

Ishigo said "Why can't we just teleport to Konoha already?"

Nekomi said "Because it would attract attention, Ishigo-kun and we're trying to avoid that, besides, if I remember correctly, the hot springs here has two seperate pools and a mixed one."

Ishigo said "Are you going to be in it?"

Nekomi smiled "Nope, I'm going to be in the girls' bath, with Shina, Miwa and Haku, but I'm sure you'll have some admirers in the mixed bath. It's a popular hangout, just make sure you don't give away more than your name." She smiled.

"Hai." Nekomi could see by the look on his face that he was already thinking about it. She thought 'He deserves to find a girlfriend. I had thought he was hitting it off with Saki, but they seemed to have fallen out again.' She looked at Zabuza.

Zabuza said "I'll keep an eye on the boys, make sure that they don't show off." They made it to the inn and gave them their tickets and went to the seperate baths.

Haku said "This is really nice, Kaasan."

Nekomi said "I think so too." She lay back in the pool. She and the other girls had on two pieces provided by the inn because it was a mixed bathing hot spring. She had on a black two piece, Miwa had on a pink, Shina had on a blue and Haku had on a purple.

In the mixed bath, Zabuza kept an eye on Ishigo. Zabuza had black trunks on and Ishigo had on white. The other boys were over in the mens' bath, watched over by Itachi. Itachi had purple trunks on and Naruto had on orange and Gaara red.

Itachi said "If you do another cannon ball, I'm coming after you, Takeo."

Takeo stuck out his tongue. Itachi stressmarked. 'Zabuza owes me.'

In the mixed bath...a woman walked over to Zabuza "Hello. I don't believe I've seen you before."

Zabuza looked at the woman, nice shape, pretty, and if Nekomi saw him talking to her, very dangerous "Hey, I'm married, why don't you talk to this guy here. He's single." He pushed Ishigo forward.

The woman pouted. Zabuza whispered something in her ear and her eyes got hearts in them, she looked at Ishigo and giggled then ran back over to her friends.

Ishigo frowned "What did you tell them?"

Zabuza said "Nothing. Much. You better watch out though. Don't let them sneak up behind you." He laughed and went a little ways away to soak by himself.

Three girls advanced upon Ishigo.

Ishigo said "Um, hello."

The redhead said "Oh! Are you really a swordsman? We love swordsmen!"

The blonde said "Because swordsmen have the biggest swords!" She giggled.

Ishigo blushed red and wondered if it showed through the genjutsu. He guessed it did when they giggled again.

"He's shy."

The blonde said "We can help you with that."

Ishigo turned to look at Zabuza "Zabuza..."

Zabuza laughed "You're on your own, man."

When Ishigo looked again, Zabuza was gone.

In the women's bath...

Nekomi looked up as a woman with medium length black pigtails and brown eyes come into the bath. When the woman returned her gaze, she mouth 'Zabuza?'

He mouthed 'Here.'

Nekomi smiled and shook her head as he came to join them. She said "So what brings you here from mixed bathing?"

Zabuza said "I helped Ishigo get some attention from the female population. I decided to leave him, don't want to get in the way, me being a married ma..woman and all." He looked around.

Nekomi snorted "How'd you change it anyway?"

"I picked that up a couple of years ago."

Nekomi was referring to his changing the appearance given by the genjutsu necklace. "It's amazing that you did it without causing it to become visible."

Zabuza said "Practice."

Haku asked "Is that you, tou..."

Zabuza covered her mouth. "Yes, it's me, Haku. Shh."

Nekomi said "Now, let's call for some drinks. Attendant!" A woman came in.

"Hai?"

Nekomi said "Some drinks please."

"What kind?"

Zabuza said "Sake."

Nekomi said "No sake."

"Why? We can sleep it off before we go tomorrow."

Nekomi frowned. The woman said "We serve the best sake in these parts." Nekomi gave in "Alright, Sake for the three of us and.."

Miwa said "I can handle it."

Haku said "Me too." Nekomi regretted making Haku's henge older looking. She thought she'd have a lot of complaining to hear and healing to do in the morning, but it would be a good way for them to learn if they had a tolerance for alchohol or not. She said "Alright. Sake for all of us." The woman nodded and left.

In the men's bath...

A woman with drinks also came about, with a blush. She didn't know why they had sent her to serve drinks to the men too. Well at least they were all in trunks. She kept her head down.

"Miss."

She looked up and saw a handsome man with black hair and grey/blue eyes. She blushed as she took a better look at him. "H..hai?"

"I'm thirsty. What do you have to drink?"

"We have very good sake." She said in a voice which was almost too soft for Itachi to hear. He thought about it. He had tried sake before when one of the chunnin medic nin had tried making it as an experiment with fermentation and medicine. It hadn't been too bad.

"Alright."

Taro said "Some for me too."

Naruto said "I want some."

It seemed all of the other boys wanted some too. Itachi thought 'Why did neesan make them all look around my age?' But it was too late for him to say anything if he wanted to, the girl was gone. He sighed and said "Don't come crawling to me when you wake up and your head feels like someone beat it in. No more than one cup, got that?" They all nodded.

A couple of hours later, all of the group save Nekomi and Zabuza had gone up to their rooms, most of them because they were nearing unconsciousness. Nekomi and Zabuza had moved into the mixed bathing so he could change back to his original henge. They both had blushes across their noses from the sake.

Nekomi said "How many d'you have?"

Zabuza said "Hm...I dunno, I think I finished off a coupla bottles. You?"

"a'least three bottles. I think I'm drunk."

"Me too." They sat there in the hot spring.

Nekomi passed out. Zabuza drunkenly carried her to their room.

The next morning...

All woke up in their rooms with groans. Nekomi healed herself first, then Zabuza, then Naruto, Gaara and Haku who had been in the room with them. As the others stumbled to her room, she healed them too.

Itachi said "I just had a cup, but it feels like I drank a lot more than that."

Nekomi said "They refill cups when you're not looking instead of giving you new ones. It's easy to lose track. So, everyone better?" They nodded. Nekomi said "I think this adds a rule to the rulebook."

Zabuza said "Limit sake drinking to one cup a night when on missions." They all nodded. "Especially when you don't have a medic nin as part of your group."

They got seperated and washed up, dressed and made it back to her room. Then they set out.

In Konoha...

Preparations were being made for the chunnin exams.

Kakashi looked at his team. He had the dark avenger also known as Sasuke Uchiha, the fangirl also known as Sakura Haruno and a kid named Kai who was about as quiet as the Uchiha, but could still cause fights with him every time they went on a mission. It was clear that the two hated each other. Kakashi sighed. Why couldn't he get someone on the team that could lighten the mood? Every other team had a stabilizing force. Sakura was the one who should have fulfilled the role, but she just made things worse. Kurenai's team had Shino as a balance between the shy Hinata and the reckless Kiba. Asuma's team had the kind Akimichi to balance out the lazy shikamaru and the loud Ino. Even Gai's team had a halfway normal girl to balance out the Hyuuga and the over excitable Gai mini me. 'I can't believe I'm envying Gai.' He sighed 'I hate my life, at least they'll be chunnins soon and have their own teams.' He was walking towards the bookstand, hoping a new volume of Icha Icha had come out, to brighten up his dark mood, then it felt like electricity went up his spine when he saw 13 nin from waterfall walk into town. The one in front was a woman, he couldn't place her face, but something felt familiar about her. He walked up.

Nekomi noticed the Konoha nin from years before walking towards her. 'He can't be able to tell this is me. He doesn't even have his Sharingan uncovered.' She saw Itachi and Naruto frown. She said "I'll just go get something to eat before we sign in. We still have a couple of hours." Her group blocked Kakashi from following her, seemingly by accident, when they all decided to stop and talk. By the time Kakashi had pushed past, she was gone.

Kakashi sighed. Oh well, it was probably nothing. He wondered why some of them had looked at him so hatefully, though. He went on his way to the bookstore only to find they had no Icha Icha. 'I need a drink.'

Back with the Ban nins...

Naruto said "Hey, wasn't that the same guy from six years back?"

Gaara said "Yeah. Do you think he recognized mom?"

Nekomi showed back up in a slightly different henge, without the headband on this time.

"You changed?" Zabuza whispered.

Nekomi said "Only slightly. I'll reappear in my previous henge with the headband when we sign in. We really do have a couple of hours until we need to. Let's go get some food." She paused "We really shouldn't all go together, though, let's split up. I'll go with Zabuza's team. Each of you go with your 'jonin senseis'." Nods all around and they split up.

Nekomi let Naruto lead. Naruto looked around. He was glad that he had the necklace, though he held the people in contempt. They sure were nice now. They wouldn't be nice to him if they knew who he really was. He was sorely tempted to reveal himself to see their faces change.

Nekomi touched his shoulder. He turned around to look at her and she shook her head. He tried to calm down. It would be bad if he started something here, it would ruin his kaasan's plans and it would dissapoint her and he would never do something that would make her sad. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and opened them again. He smelled a good smell and pointed "There." They walked to a stand. Naruto looked up. 'Ichiraku...' He had a flashback.

There was a bowl of food that smelled like life on the table. He stared at it, not moving, afraid.

'You sounded hungry.'

'What is it?'

'Ramen.'

'For me?' The girl nodded with a smile.

'Gomen.'

Naruto blinked as he came out of the flashback. A smile began to light his face. She had been nice to him. One of the only ones. He said "I'll take a miso ramen. Make it four."

She looked at him in surprise "Four, just for you?"

Naruto grinned "I'm hungry."

The girl blushed and said "Coming right up. How about the rest of you?"

Gaara asked "Do you just have ramen?"

The girl nodded. "You're all ninja, right?"

Nekomi said "Hai, from waterfall."

"You must be here for the chunnin exams."

"Hai, we are. I'll take the same. Four bowls of miso."

Zabuza said "Four pork."

"Four chicken."

"Four miso for me, too."

The girl tallied up the bowls in her head "That's 12 bowls of miso, four bowls of pork and four of chicken. Be right back." She went into the back.

Zabuza asked "What's up? You sure cheered up. Don't tell me you like her?"

Naruto blushed a little "I do not. It's just...she was one of the only ones who was nice to me...before. I met her the day I got chased out. She gave me a bowl of ramen..."

Zabuza said "A story of love, seperated by mountains and seas, only to be reunited by fate..."

Naruto said "Shut up."

Gaara said "It sounds like you've been reading Nariko's romance novels again when you were on guard duty."

"Have not." Zabuza let it drop. Gaara smirked.

Nekomi was just glad that Naruto's mood seemed to have lightened. She hoped that Itachi was doing alright.

Meanwhile...

Itachi had left his team mates to eat barbeque, telling them that he had to go to the bathroom. The place he had picked had ended up not having one. Of course, they didn't need to know that he had planned it that way. He would be back before long. He needed to see his brother.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

So, what do you think readers? I know some of you were hoping for the chunnin exam this chapter, but rest assured, it will be in the next chapter. Until then, Ja ne. 


	22. Chapter 22

I fail, majorly. I can't believe it's been three months since I've updated this fic. Most of your probably think it's dead by this point. I just really have been too busy. I haven't had any free time for my comp in a long time. The little time I have free from school work is the only time I have to spend with my friends/boyfriend and that is more important than updating fics. I hope you guys who are still reading this are happy to see the next chapter, though.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Sasuke frowned. Kakashi had given him and the other two people on his team forms for the chunnin exam today. He said other two people instead of team mates because they weren't a team. He suspected Kakashi had only passed them because he looked bad, never passing a team, and because of him. He stuck his hands in his pockets, heading back towards the Uchiha estate. The exams started tomorrow.

Once he got back to his house, chills started to run down his spine. Someone was here. "Show yourself, whoever you are. I know you're there." Sasuke growled and held up a kunai when a very familiar figure stepped out of the shadows "Itachi! What are you doing here? I'll kill you!"

Itachi said, looking his little brother in the eye, "Sasuke, that wasn't me! What happened, it was Orochimaru, he pretended to be me and killed our clan!"

Sasuke cried "You're a liar! Why should I believe you?!"

Itachi took a step forward and said "Sasuke..."

Sasuke said "You killed our parents in front of me! And everyone else! You're a murderer! You told me I should hate so I could grow stronger and I've hated you every day since that day and I've gotten stronger! I will defeat you and then my revenge will be complete!"

Itachi was heartbroken. His little brother hated him, with all his heart. He pleaded "No, Sasuke, please understand...Orochimaru did this."

"I don't even know who this Orochimaru is! You're making him up!"

Itachi said "No, he is very real. He killed our clan. If you want to take revenge, then help me to take revenge against him!"

Sasuke said "He's not an Uchiha, is he? No, he's not, so you're lying. No one but an Uchiha could use tsukiyomi. I saw the red moon myself."

Itachi said "He used a genjutsu on you, Sasuke."

Sasuke cried "I don't believe you! Get out of here!" Some doubt was starting to trickle into Sasuke's mind. "Get out now or I'll kill you."

Itachi said, quietly, "Otouto...I'm sorry...that I didn't come after you...that you were left alone all these years while I...while I found a family...I wish that...that you could...that we could become brothers again, Sasuke." He dissapeared into the shadows. Leaving Sasuke very confused and still angry.

Shina frowned a little, seeing Itachi return. "You took quite a while at the bathroom, Itachi."

Miwa asked "What's wrong? You look...so sad."

Itachi said "It is nothing...let's go to the hotel room neesan got for us. I'm...tired...and we should all rest up for tomorrow."

Shina said "That does sound like a good idea."

The others were already there and meeting up in the room that Nekomi was staying in. She said "Good, now everyone's here. Listen up." They all took standing positions or sat down.

She said "I know all of you already have your papers and entry forms, so first, just a reminder to bring them, and keep your necklaces on at all times. Also...if anything bad happens...do not interfere unless i give the go ahead. I will have contact with Gaara, Ishigo and Itachi during the exams at all times, so if you need to contact me, go through them." She paused to make sure they all understood.

Ishigo asked "Do you have a bad feeling Ba..."

Nekomi cut him off "Also, be careful about names."

Ishigo looked embarassed. She continued "To answer your question, I have been feeling uneasy, but I am not sure of the reason why, so it is just a warning."

Itachi said "Is the meeting finished."

Nekomi said "Yes, that was what I wanted to tell you, but otouto, I want to talk with you alone. Can everyone else leave the room for a minute?"

Everyone else left. Naruto asked "Hey, Gaara, what do you think kaasan wanted to talk to Itachi-niisan about?"

Gaara said "Hey, remember we're not supposed to use our real names."

"Oops, but this place is spy proof right, Kaasan checked it first."

"She still said to be careful."

Naruto said "Gomen gomen, but what do you think's wrong with niisan?"

Gaara said "I don't know. Remember that time he said he had a little brother and he lived in Konoha?"

Naruto nodded. Gaara continued "Maybe it has something to do with him."

Inside the room...

Nekomi had put up a sound cancellation jutsu for privacy. She said "Itachi-kun, did you seek out your little brother?"

Itachi looked a little surprised. Nekomi said "I figured you go through with it and do it. It didn't go well, did it?"

Itachi looked down and choked up as his throat began to grow hot and tears came to his eyes "He...hates me, despises me. The look he had in his eyes..." He choked on a sob "He s..said he hated me a..all these years!"

Nekomi's heart saddened. She said "Poor boy...I'm so sorry." She hugged him and smoothed his hair "Tell me everything that happened. It'll make you feel better." Itachi retold the tale.

Nekomi thought about it, then said "At the end, you said he told you to get out before he said he'd kill you. At the beggining he was talking about killing you from the start. I think you've at least made him doubt what he's been thinking all these years. You may yet have a chance to save him and become an aniki to him once more."

Itachi's eyes widened, hopeful. "Do you...do you really think so?"

Nekomi smiled "Yes, I do."

Itachi looked her in the eye, then looked down "Neesan, if I do save him...can he..."

Nekomi smiled "Of course. If he wants to come with you, I will gladly accept him into our village."

Itachi frowned "Couldn't that cause problems though, if he just dissapeared?"

Nekomi frowned a little. She hadn't thought of that. She said "If it comes down to that, we could have him die before he comes with us."

"A fake death? Wouldn't that get waterfall in trouble with Konoha?"

Nekomi said "Waterfall nin wouldn't kill him. Don't worry about it. Prepare yourself for the exam tomorrow."

Itachi said "I've already taken this exam, neesan, I was an ANBU here."

Nekomi smiled "Then go give some advice to the others. I'm sure they'd appreciate a heads up."

Itachi smiled slightly "Okay."

Nekomi said "Good boy, but before you leave, let me establish contact with you. I'll do it with Ishigo and Gaara in a little bit." Itachi obediently mirrored Nekomi and performed the jutsu to that they were connected mentally. He asked "Why just the three of us?"

Nekomi said "It is very difficult to maintain connections. Three is my limit if I still need to remain conscious of my environment and interact with it."

"I see."

Nekomi smiled "Go on. Why don't you do something fun tonight? I bet Misa would like to try some dango from Konoha."

Itachi blushed a little across the bridge of his nose "I think I will stick to informing the others of the workings of the exam." He left. Nekomi chuckled and called in Gaara and Ishigo and established connections with them as well.

The next morning... They all walked down to the testing center together and the nine 'genins' went inside, while the four adults waited in the area they were supposed to wait in.

Meanwhile, a certain chronically late jonin was on time for once to meet with his team to sign them in for the chunnin exams. He noticed Sasuke seemed troubled about something. Sakura was pestering him about it and so was Kai. Sasuke yelled "It's none of your business! Leave me alone!" He stormed in to the hall. Kakashi sighed. He said "Well, I guess I'll see the three of you in the next part of the exams. Good luck." He poofed away, leaving Sakura and Kai. Sakura chased after Sasuke. Kai sighed and put his hands in his pockets. 'Why did I have to be stuck with emo kid and one of his fangirls?'

Naruto looked around at all of the other genin. There were a lot of them. He said "Konoha has the most genin in this exam."

Haku said "That makes sense, since they're holding the exam and they're one of the main nations."

"How strong do you think they are?"

Haku said "I see a couple of Hyuugas. They're pretty strong. I don't really know the other clans here much."

Itachi said "The Hyuuga are the strongest clan left. The Uchiha clan used to rival them for strongest clan, but they are all but gone now."

Misa said "I'm sorry."

Itachi said "You have no need to be sorry. You weren't there."

Takeo said "Hey, hey. Look at those kids." He directed their attention to a certain boy with black hair like a duck's butt getting knocked back by another boy, demanding to be let though and for him to drop the illusion.

Taro said "Tch, how annoying. Now all the rest of these people know it's a genjutsu. He should have just gone around. There's another stairwell in the back." They watched as a small fight broke out and they were finally let in.

Haru sighed when they were let in, seeing the papers on the desks "A written exam...geez, isn't this what academies are supposed to be for?" Several others groaned.

Miwa said "It's not that bad. I bet they won't even be that hard." They all sat down after they were assigned team numbers by the proctor.

Naruto looked at the back of his paper, waiting for the proctor to give the start command. He didn't really pay any attention to what the proctor was saying. 'Blah..blah..cheating gets points taken away...you fail your team does...blah blah...' He was glad when he could finally turn the test over. He went through it. The problems were difficult, but not harder than the problems kaasan had him doing the past year. He worked through them, looking around at his team mates and seeing them making similar progress.

Ibiki looked at the genins taking the exam. Many of them were sweating, nervous. Some had already caught on and were using surveillance techniques to cheat. He had already had to fail some of the more obvious ones, but what sparked his curiosity was the teams from waterfall. He couldn't see them using any methods of cheating at all. Could they really work those problems that easily, or were their methods so good that he couldn't even detect them? Either way...it was interesting...He waited for a long while and then gave the tenth question.

Naruto was bored. Finally he said "Blah blah, I'm sure all of us in here are here 'cause we want to be chunnin, right? If we've gone this far, why the hell would we back out now? I'm sure not going to!" His eyes blazed.

Ibiki was amazed. The boy had wiped the doubt from the others left in the room with that statement. He saw even his team mates were looking at him curiously. He sighed "Fine, no one else wants to leave? Remember, if you get this question incorrect, you can never take the chunnin exam again." He waited for a few minutes and thought 'Anko will never let me live it down, that so many teams passed.' He said "You all pass." There was an uproar of questions from the genin, still not understanding the purpose of the test. He had just gotten through explaining the tenth question when...

the window broke and Anko came in with a banner "Now's no time to celebrate maggots! I'm Anko Mitarashi, the proctor for the second part of the exam and it just gets harder from here!"

Ibiki muttered "Anko, you're early, again."

Anko sweatdropped, then she really took a look at the genin "Ibiki, that's a lot of runts. You let that many pass? You must be getting soft in your old age."

Ibiki said "There's a good crop of candidates this year." He glared a little at Anko 'And I am not old.'

Anko said "They don't look all that strong to me." She paused "Anyway, follow me, ya runts, it's time for stage two." They all followed her outside.

"Welcome to the forest of death!" 


	23. Chapter 23

I got inspiration for this story all of a sudden, so I decided I'd post a chapter, I know it's unusual for me, but I hope you enjoy. Also, please forgive any spelling mistakes, I wrote this around 1am. Also, does anyone remember whether I made kyuubi a girl or a boy?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Cat was in the room with her three jonin along with the jonin from the other villages, watching the progess of the exam through some monitors that were getting feed from hidden cameras in the forest. All of a sudden her stomach twinged and she felt ill. She put her hand over her mouth and paled. She slid a hand down to her abdomen and applied a little healing energy to it and she felt a little better. That had been happening on and off for the past three weeks, but she hadn't told anyone. She didn't want to worry anybody and she knew if the council knew that she was feeling under the weather, they wouldn't let her go.

Of course, her husband and her other two jonin noticed immediately. Zabuza asked "Are you alright?"

Nekomi said "I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You just healed yourself, from what?"

Nekomi smiled slightly "It's nothing, I've just been feeling a little sick lately, I think it's been from not getting a lot of sleep and you know, stress due to the exams..."

Shina said "Ba...eh...ma'am, how long have you been feeling like this?"

Nekomi answered "For the past couple of weeks, but..."

Shina asked "Have you had any headaches?"

"Every once in a while."

"Have you um..." She whispered in her ear. Nekomi blushed "I thought...y'know, I've missed before due to stress." Then it dawned on Nekomi. "No! It's not possible! I..we..I'm...uh, I feel sick again." She put her hand over her mouth and ran off to the bathroom.

Shina sighed. She looked at the two men who were clueless, but still worried. She said "Well, Haku's going to be real happy. She's going to get her wish."

Ishigo asked "What do you mean?"

Zabuza thought for a minute then he put two and two together. He jumped up "What?!!" His yell drew the attention of the other jonin who glared at him. Shina yanked him back down to the table.

"Be a little more loud, would you? We're trying to not attract attention, remember?"

Zabuza asked "But how can you be sure?"

Shina sighed "She has all the signs, but I'll check her chakra when she returns from the bathroom." She turned to Ishigo. "You know, I bet she won't mind if you cut that link and re-establish it once she's...feeling better."

Ishigo had gone pale and looked awful with his head between his hands on the table. Ishigo nodded and soon looked much better.

Meanwhile, in the forest of death...

The three groups from Banshou were still standing together, waiting for the gates to open, when suddenly Itachi and Gaara doubled over a little. Their team mates were instantly concerned.

Naruto asked "What's wrong?"

Gaara swallowed "It's mom, she's feeling sick."

Naruto cried "Is she okay? Do we need to..."

Gaara shook his head, seeing his brother was ready to rush right out of there and go find their mom. "No. He grew a little more pale, then color started to return to his face. "It's a little better now...she'll be okay."

Miwa asked "What was all that about It..."

Itachi said "Names, remember?"

Gaara said "We really need to do something about that. We don't have time to come up with code names for everybody."

Haku said "How about the first letter of everyone's name?"

Itachi said "That's actually a pretty good idea."

Taro said "But there are three of us with T names and two of us with names that start with a H and two with an I."

Itachi asked "Two with an I?"

"I-sensei."

"Oh. Okay." He thought about it and said "Okay, this is how it goes. I'm I. Our sensei is S. You are M and you are T." His team mates nodded and he pointed to Tora, Haru and Takeo. You are O, R, and E, got it?"

They nodded. Itachi tested. "R?"

Haru nodded. "E?"

"Nani?" Takeo answered.

"O"

"I got it already..It..I mean I."

Itachi said "Just checking, now, your sensei is H, okay?" The three nodded. Itachi turned to Naruto's group. He pointed at Naruto, Gaara and Haku. You are N, G, and K." The three nodded. "Your sensei is Z. Kaasan is B, everyone got that? Memorize it well." They all nodded and the gates opened. They split off.

Gaara said "Okay, our objective is to find an earth scroll and get to the tower, which is in the center of this place." Naruto and Haku nodded. He continued "The best way to do this would be to just head to the tower and wait, ambushing a team that makes it to the tower and taking their scroll."

Naruto asked "But how can we be sure that they have the right scroll?"

Gaara said "By the time they reach the tower, they will have most likely retrieved both scrolls already."

Haku said "So, it's a stealth mission."

Naruto said "Aww...so we're just going to go hide and wait to ambush some guys? That sounds so boring. It'd be a lot more fun to just ambush some teams before they get to the tower and maybe get in a couple of decent fights."

Gaara said "Kaasan said not to show off."

Haku said "G...the quicker we finished, the quicker we could go check on kaasan."

Gaara frowned a little. He said "Fine, you win N..., but no showing off, be discreet and K...no bloodline." They nodded.

Naruto said "Let's go get us a earth scroll!" He pumped his fist in the air and cried "And maybe I can beat up a few konoha genin while I'm at it. That'd be great!" He grinned.

Gaara and Haku looked at each other, concerned.Gaara sighed and looked at Haku and mouthed 'Watch him.' Haku nodded. Gaara said "I want to contact the other teams first though." He looked at Haku, who nodded and walked in between Naruto and Gaara and made a kage bushin bird that looked like a seagul and sent it flying, calling as it went.

She said "It will find the other teams then call out to them and lead them back here. We should stay where we are." Gaara nodded.

Naruto's patience ran out after an hour. "Where is everybody?"

Haku said "Be patient. They're coming."

About ten minutes later everyone showed up.

Itachi asked "What is it, K?"

"How'd you know I sent it?" Itachi pointed at his eye. "Oh, I forgot."

"What's up?"

Gaara said "We have decided to attack teams to get scrolls."

Itachi said "I thought you would have decided on a stealth and ambush strategy."

Gaara looked at Naruto "It didn't go over well with N."

Itachi understood. He said "Just don't take down a konoha team that has a kid on it that looks like me, okay?"

Haku asked "Your brother?"

Itachi nodded. He said "We will continue with a stealth and ambush strategy. What will you do, R?"

Haru turned to Itachi "We had also decided on an attack strategy."

Itachi nodded "Same goes for you then, watch out for that team, also, all of you, no bloodline limits and tone down your abilities a bit..." He paused, then said "G, you and your team take the left side, we'll ambush near the middle, R, you take the right." They all nodded. "Go." They split off again.

Gaara said "Remember what niisan said."

Naruto said "Yeah, yeah. Hey, do you guys hear a team up ahead?" He ran across the trees. Haku and Gaara followed, with a sigh.

They all looked down from the tree. Naruto grinned "It's a leaf team!"

Gaara looked down "It's two boys and a girl, the boy's a hyuuga, I don't know about the other boy or the girl."

"So they're fair game."

Gaara said "We should at least see what scroll they have first. Hyuuga's are pretty strong."

"Hey, come out of that tree, I know you're there."

They jumped down, surprised.

The girl with her hair done up and buns and a boy with bowl cut hair looked surprised. The girl said "You're one of the waterfall teams."

Gaara said "Hai. Which scroll do you have?"

Neji asked "Why should we tell you?"

Gaara pointed to Naruto "Because he wants to fight and I don't see the point in it if you don't have the scroll we need."

Lee said "We have the heaven scroll!"

Naruto said "Aww man. No good, we need the earth scroll!"

Gaara said "You heard it, let's go."

Neji said "You're running away?"

Gaara said "There's no point in fighting you. C'mon N." Naruto took a last dissapointed look and jumped back up into the tree.

"I see another one!"

Gaara's eyebrow twitched as he followed.

"Another leaf team!"

Haku looked down at them and then all three jumped down as kunai were thrown at them. She studied the team. There were two dark haired boys and a girl with pink hair. She said "Hey...that boy, he looks like..."

Naruto groaned "Give me a break, we can't fight these guys either?!"

"You heard what I said."

"Geez." Naruto sighed "This is getting kinda frustrating."

Sasuke asked "Hey, what are you talking about?"

Gaara said "Nothing."

"Why aren't you going to fight us?"

Gaara held his head for a minute. He then frowned and closed his eyes for a minute. He sighed 'Naruto's really not going to like this, a lot.'

Itachi sent back 'I know, but I have a bad feeling about Sasuke. Something's going to happen. Stay with him. You and Gaara are just as capable of defending him as me and you're closer.'

'What if he won't team up?'

'Convince him, you're good at that, or get Haku to.'

'Fine.' Gaara sighed. He said "Hey, what scroll do you guys have?"

Sasuke said "What scroll do you have?"

Gaara answered "heaven."

Sasuke frowned "So do we."

Gaara said "Why don't we work together to get the two earth scrolls?"

Sasuke said "No way, you're not even from Konoha. Why should we work with you?"

Naruto said "What are you thinking, Ga...G? There's no way I'm going to..."

Gaara scowled "Niisan told me to."

Naruto frowned "Aniki...?"

"Yeah."

Naruto sighed. If Itachi wanted him to do it, he couldn't really refuse... "I really don't like this mission. Fine, I don't care."

Gaara turned to Sasuke "How about it?"

Sasuke said "No, you'll just slow me down. I don't need any more people slowing me down."

Gaara said "On the contrary, with the six of us working together, we can find the scrolls more quickly."

Sasuke frowned, finally "I don't care. Just stay out of my way." He started walking away.

Gaara sighed "Good enough." They walked together, Gaara inconspicuously guiding them more towards the left.

When it started getting dark, they set up camp for the night.

Gaara turned to Naruto and Haku. "I'll take first watch, N, take second, K take third. For now, go get some sleep." They nodded and Naruto climbed up in a tree branch. Haku curled up under a tree.

The pink haired girl asked "What's up with the letters? Don't you guys have names?"

"Of course we have names, but there is no need for you to know them." He paused "Nothing personal."

Sakura frowned. The other boy with dark hair, Kai, said "Doesn't bother me any."

Sakura asked "Why are you working with us though. You don't seem to be doing it because you like us."

Gaara said "We felt like it. Let it go. It'll make things easier for you." She didn't ask any more questions after that.

Everyone was up moving again the next morning. Gaara frowned "N...do you smell that?"

Naruto tensed and stopped "Snake." He growled "There's a snake around here, closeby, but I can't see it."

Gaara nodded "I thought so. Be on the lookout." All of a sudden Haku threw a half dozen senbon at a tree and a person jumped out. Everyone heard a low growl.

Gaara realized it was coming from Naruto and he knew why. This man, even he could smell it and his senses weren't as well developed as Naruto's. "You smell of snake strongly." The man/woman looked surprised. Gaara decided to call it a man.

The man looked surprised. He said "Well, Sasuke-kun, I did not expect you to find some new friends, no matter, they will be no match for me." He made a few handsigns and summoned up a huge snake, several stories tall.

Naruto and Gaara were shocked, Naruto only got angrier. They both knew the only person who could summon snakes like this was "Orochimaru!"

He looked surprised "Hm, so you know of me? How strange. I've never seen you three before."

Gaara said "We know you by reputation only."

He said "Tch, no matter, you'll soon be dead." The snake came after them. Gaara cried "Naruto, Haku, defensive, guard. I'll take out the summon. Be careful." They nodded and got in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke said "Hey."

Naruto said "This guy's way above your level. We'd all have trouble with him, he almost defeated Kaasan."

"Kaasan?"

Naruto shook his head "Let's just say this guys above jonin level, he's a sannin."

Sakura cried "The Orochimaru? He's a missing nin!"

Sasuke turned to her in surprise "You've heard about him?"

Sakura was delighted that Sasuke was paying her attention and tried to show off "Hai, sasuke-kun. He was one of the three famous sannin. He was banished from Konoha for his experiments on people. He's a double S class missing nin."

Sasuke's eyes widened. Someone that strong could...was Itachi...could he be telling the truth? No, no, he couldn't have been wrong this whole time. He couldn't have...'

Gaara called up a wave of sand and crushed the snake. Haku cried out "But Ga..."

Gaara interrupted "I know, I know, I had to." He scowled at the snake sannin.

Naruto said "Let's take this guy down."

Gaara said "Don't be so hasty."

Orochimaru frowned. Here was a brat who just took out one of his summons with ease and he used a sand technique. He was supposed to be from waterfall. What was going on here?' Things were starting to get unpredictable. He should avoid a fight in case these strange genin had something up their sleeves he didn't know about. He frowned. He'd just have to make an opening and get at Sasuke.

He saw one and stretched out his neck. He had to retract it as the black haired girl shot a wave of senbon at it. He cursed and went in.

"Fast." Naruto looked at Haku and nodded. Naruto made a ring of kage bushin around the leaf team. They got torn through by Orochimaru.

Naruto growled "Hebi-teme." He spun and deflected a wave of kunai sent at him, then like lightning the neck shot out again. With all his clones taken out, he just had the time to get in front of Sasuke. He hissed as fangs bit into his shoulder.

Orochimaru cursed. He had spent too long here. "I'll be back for you, Sasuke-kun." He snarled, and left.

Naruto fell over with a grunt "It hurts." he fell onto his knees, panting.

Sakura cried "What happened?"

Gaara said "Something bad."

Kai was shaking "Who was that guy?"

Gaara scowled "Orochimaru." He looked at Sasuke and glared "You better thank your brother. He sent us here. If it hadn't been for that, that snake would have done that to you." He pointed at Naruto, who Haku was tending to.

Sasuke was shocked "My brother, he sent you, he's a part of you? He...?"

Gaara scowled "This is bad. I really don't like this." He paused "We need to meet up with the other teams."

Sakura asked "What other teams?"

Gaara said, snapping "Don't ask so many questions." He made a kage bushin bird and sent it up. Itachi's team was there first. Haru's team was also there surprisingly quickly.

Itachi said "Sasuke."

Sasuke scowled recogniqing his brother's voice, then a confused look formed on his features. He said "I...I don't understand."

Itachi turned to Gaara "What happened to Naruto?"

Gaara said "Our cover is being blown bit by bit. What you just did is only a part. I used a suna technique earlier, Naruto mentioned kaasan. Orochimaru escaped. I can only hope he didn't figure anything out."

Itachi asked "What happened?"

Gaara frowned "I took out a summon and told Naruto and Haku to guard Sasuke and his team. Naruto took a blow meant for Sasuke."

"Let me see. Move to the side, Haku."

Haku sniffed "I can't heal it, niisan. It won't go away..."

Itachi looked at it. "It's a curse seal. We'll have to get neesan to look at it."

Haru asked "Should we call her in now?"

Gaara said "Let me see how he's holding up first."

Gaara kneeled beside Naruto who had passed out and performed wakeshin, slumping over top of him. He came out about five minutes later, looking tired. He said, in relief, "It's alright. He's going to be okay. It's working on it."

Itachi asked "Who?"

Gaara only emphazied "It."

"Oh, can it get rid of it?"

Gaara said "It's trying. It can at least contain it."

Haku smiled, relieved.

Naruto woke back up and said, wanly, "Let's continue. It would be annoying to have only made it this far."

Itachi asked "Can you even walk?"

Naruto said "That ate up a lot of my chakra, I don't know." He tried standing up, but fell. Itachi picked him up and put him on his back. "Aniki..."

"No protesting. You'll slow us down like that."

Naruto sighed. "Geez, we need to hurry up and finish. I'm worried about kaasan."

Itachi said "She's okay."

Naruto said "But still..."

"Yeah, I know." He turned to Sasuke's team. He said "We don't have time to waste. We have to stop playing around and get to the tower."

Haku said "I'm unknown, I'll do it."

Gaara frowned. He said "Fine, take Taro with you. Just take down a few teams. We need a heaven scroll. What do the rest of you need?"

Gaara answered "Two earth scrolls." He pointed at Sasuke's team.

"A heaven scroll."

Taro said "How annoying."

Haku said "Two heaven scrolls and two earth scrolls coming right up." Haku held her hand over her chest and closed her eyes.

Taro said "Wait, do mine."

Haku looked at him annoyed "Taro, I thought you had learned how to do it."

"I forgot."

"Fine." Suddenly he dissapeared, then Haku did.

Sasuke jumped "What in the..."

Gaara said "It's a steath jutsu. They'll be back soon." He looked at Itachi and said "You two need to go talk, now. Before they come back and we proceed to the tower. Use wakeshin if you have to. You know how."

Kai and Sakura were still wondering what was going on, Sasuke was highly confused and most of the banshou nins were worried about Naruto and Nekomi.

Itachi sighed and said "Sasuke, let's talk." Sasuke followed his brother a little ways away from the others. 


	24. Chapter 24

Meanwhile with the adults from Ban...

Nekomi was looking pale again.

Shina asked, concerned, "I thought you were feeling better."

Zabuza asked "Are you okay?"

Shina said, annoyed, "You've been asking that every five minutes. Stop before I get annoyed."

Ishigo said "You were feeling better, has something else happened?"

Nekomi frowned a little "I've had a bad feeling about this exam since we got into Konoha. Something's off..."

Shina said "Don't look now, but I think all that commotion mr. swordsman here caused got the attraction of that jonin you're trying to avoid."

Nekomi noticed the grey haired man making his way over. 'No, go away...I really don't want to have to deal with you...'

Kakashi's POV

Kakashi had been talking to his fellow jonin wondering about the progress of their teams in the exams. There weren't so many cameras when you got farther into the forest. Then he noticed that woman again, the same one who had caught his eye from before. There was something familiar about her...like he had seen her before. Maybe if he talked to her...

"Hello."

Nekomi frowned a bit and modified her voice to be a little higher than it usually was "Yes?"

"Have I met you before?"

"Iie, jonin-san, I've never been to Konoha before. This is my first time here."

"You're from waterfall, right? As what? Are you a shinobi?"

"Iie, I'm just a representative sent to watch the matches. These three are the jonin with participating genin teams."

"I see." There was a pause, then he repeated "Are you sure we've never met?"

Zabuza growled a little bit and said "Hey, when you keep saying that it sounds like you're hitting on my wife. Cut it out unless you want to make something of it."

Kakashi was surprised "You two are married?"

Nekomi answered "Hai."

Kakashi said "Gomen, but I wasn't insinuating anything. How did waterfall decide to send three teams this year. That's an unusually large number for them."

Shina said "There was a good batch of genin this year."

In the forest of death...

Itachi had set Naruto down and Sasuke were both in Itachi's mindscape, thanks to wakeshin. Itachi had just shown Sasuke his memory of the massacre. It had gone back to being blank, a dark landscape.

Sasuke said "I don't understand...so..it really...wasn't you? It was...that man?"

Itachi said "You saw how powerful he is, do you understand now? He is evil, pure evil. He massacred our clan!"

Sasuke said "A...aniki...I..." Itachi hugged him.

"I'm so sorry, otouto, that I didn't return sooner."

Those outside the wakeshin noticed tears running down Sasuke's face and Itachi's. Sasuke's team mates were shocked. He never showed emotion. A minute later, they suddenly moved and quickly wiped their eyes with a sleeve.

Gaara said "Good, you two are sorted out. That's going to be necessary to get through the rest of this mission."

Naruto asked "How much longer are they going to be gone?"

Gaara said "It's only been 15 minutes. Be patient."

Naruto whined "But I could have been there and back by now."

Gaara said "Not stealthily."

Naruto whined "But I'm bored. I haven't got to spar any at all."

Kai asked "What, you don't call what you did earlier fighting?"

Naruto said "That doesn't really count. All I did was some blocking, I want an actual fight."

Miwa said "I'm sure I-kun wouldn't mind giving you a little spar, N-chan."

Naruto blushed a little "Don't call me chan. I'm a ninja."

Miwa giggled "But it's cute."

Itachi rolled his eyes, then said "No spars. We're trying to not attract attention to ourselves. Besides, you're still low on chakra. You'd pass out again with heavy sparring. Go check with her to see how much work she's got done on the seal."

Naruto turned serious "Yeah...I guess I should, huh?"

Itachi said "I'll let you know when K gets back." Naruto nodded and closed his eyes.

Sakura asked "Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke nodded "I'm fine."

Kai said "You look...different."

Sasuke nodded again. He smiled slightly then looked at Itachi. "Niisan?"

Itachi looked at his little brother "You know, your little girlfriend there is going to figure out who I am if she hasn't already if you keep doing that."

"Gomen."

"What do you want?"

Suddenly it clicked in Sakura's head. "Uchiha Itachi!"

Itachi said "See, I told you."

Sakura said "But you're an S rank missing nin, wanted for the massacre of the Uchiha clan."

Sasuke said "He was framed, by the man that attacked us in the forest."

Sakura said "But I've never heard that."

Sasuke said "It's new information. Information that should be told to Hokage-sama."

Their group frowned a little, especially Naruto. He said "No way, why should their kage know? It could cause trouble for Aniki. It's not like they'll go 'Oh, we believe you. We're sorry about putting that bounty on your head. Here you go, full ninja status and citezenship rights.'"

Itachi said "Naruto's right. It's best if no one but us knows who we are...unless your team mates are very good at keeping a secret, we should wipe their memories."

Sasuke frowned a little "I'd go with that." He got agreement from Itachi and the other ban teams and soon there was one semi conscious Sakura and Kai waking up from the oblivion jutsu.

Itachi said "Now, remember, call me I, okay?"

Sasuke nodded "Hai...I."

"Good boy."

Sakura and Kai were looking around confused.

"What happened?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke said "You guys got knocked out by some enemy ninja. We're now on the second day of the exam."

"Who are all those people?" asked Kai.

Sasuke said "They decided to team up with us."

Kai asked, disbelievingly, "And you teamed up with them?"

"Hai."

"But you hate teamwork."

"Things change." Sasuke left his team mates dumbfounded and said "Now, what, I?"

Itachi said "K and T should be back soon."

Sakura said "K and T? Don't you guys have names?"

Gaara's mouth twitched a little in amusement as he answered "Hai, we do, but you don't need to know them."

Sakura looked dazed for a minute 'Woah, deja vu.'

Just then Haku and Taro returned. They tossed a scroll to Haru and Naruto, then one to Sasuke and Taro gave the last to Itachi, who nodded. "Good work. Let's get to the tower."

Sakura said "They got our scroll for us. Why would they do that?"

Sasuke said "Because we teamed up."

"But..."

Sasuke said, annoyed, "Be quiet Sakura. Your constant talk annoys me."

Sakura shut up. That was more like the Sasuke she knew.

They all travelled together, but slightly apart, back to the tower at top speed. They made it there as it was closing on nightfall. Once they made it in, Naruto gratefully collapsed against a wall, pale. His teammates instantly surrounded him. He waved them off. "Open the scrolls already so we can be done. I'm fine."

Itachi frowned, but opened his set of scrolls and the other team captains followed his example. There were four poofs. Suddenly, all their senseis stood before them.

Zabuza said "You guys made a good time."

Itachi said "S-sensei, N needs a look at. We ran into some trouble with snakes in the forest."

Shina's eyes widened and she ran over. She got a look at Naruto, seeing a bruise like mark...a curse seal...snakes...Orochimaru! She looked at him in the eyes and that confirmed it. "N...she must be told at once. This is bad, this is very bad!" She poofed away.

Zabuza said "Oh hell, I get it now too."

Kakashi asked "May I ask what is going on?"

Zabuza said "I believe our genin had a run in with Orochimaru. He's back in Konoha."

Kakashi's eye widened "Orochimaru! Which teams?"

Sasuke said "My team did, these guys came into help us."

Kakashi said "All of you are going to need to talk to the Hokage." He noticed negative reactions from several of them.

Ishigo said "Team captains will follow to report to the Hokage on the matter."

Gaara nodded. Itachi contained a wince, but hid his surprise when Misa stepped forward with Gaara. As the third team captain stepped up, they joined Sasuke's team and Kakashi on their walk to the hokage tower.

Meanwhile, the remaining ban-nins walked back with Zabuza. Ishigo had been elected to follow the Konoha nins to the Hokage's office.

Naruto asked "How's kaasan?"

Zabuza thought 'Kid doesn't need to know that she's pregnant. At least, not now.' He said "She'll be fine. How is She going to deal with this? Have you talked to Her?"

Naruto started as he caught Zabuza's meaning. He said "I talked to her. She said that she's working on it, that she can keep it from gaining power, but not remove it. I'll need a seals expert for that, one familiar with the snake's seals."

Zabuza said "You'd need one of theirs then. What was the name of that guy...Jiraiya. He's a seals master and one of the sannin, like Orochimaru. He should be able to get rid of it, if ..."

"If kaasan can't." Naruto sighed. Then he said "I want to see her! She was feeling sick earlier."

Haku asked "Toussan? Are you hiding something?"

Zabuza said "Nothing that you need to know right now."

At the hokage's office...

Sarutobi was surprised to see team Kakashi come into his office followed by a ninja from waterfall and three waterfall genin. "Kakashi?"

Kakashi said "My team said they had a run in with Orochimaru."

The third sat up straighter than before and said, with shock, "Orochimaru?!"

Ishigo said "You probably won't find him in the forest," as he noticed the Hokage sending out ANBU.

Sarutobi continued sending out the ANBU with hand signals, then asked "Why?" somewhat suspicious.

Ishigo said "From what I hear, he seemed to be in a hurry to get out of there."

"If he's not there, I don't suppose you know where he went?"

Gaara said "He didn't seem very happy about leaving, but he left, towards the North."

"I want a full report of what happened. Now."

The genin looked at each other, then the jonin did.

Gaara looked at Sasuke, then sighed. "I guess we'll have to, since between the both of us, we've seen the whole story." Gaara shared a look with Sasuke.

Sasuke understood, he needed to be careful not to reveal his niisan. He said "We had just begun this mission, when G's team joined up with ours."

"G?"

Sasuke shrugged "All they gave us was initials."

Ishigo was impressed by this, but he played along. "Full names are not important, indeed they are dangerous to use on the battlefield. Continue."

Sasuke said "Later that night, Orochimaru attacked our group. He targeted me, but G's team defended ours. He tried to bite me, but failed and he left, saying he'd be back for me."

Sarutobi asked "You are not known for your teamwork, Sasuke. Why did you decide to accept help?"

Sasuke looked at Gaara "They looked pretty strong. I thought maybe I'd get done with it faster if we worked together."

"Why not join up with a Leaf team? Don't you think it's dangerous to trust people you've never seen before?"

Sasuke frowned. He said "I just teamed up because they wanted to, besides, there were no leaf teams close by."

"Why would a team that you've never seen before, defend you?"

Gaara answered "Even though the forest of death is a mock battle between nations, I do not like to sit by and watch other shinobi get slaughtered. Especially if they are not my enemy."

Sarutobi frowned a little. Something was up here, there was something that they were hiding from him. He asked "What do you mean, failed?"

Gaara said "He stretched his neck out to bite and my team mate shot senbon at it. He retracted his neck, failing to bite Sasuke-san."

"And he just tried once?"

Sasuke glanced at Gaara from the corner of his eye. Gaara frowned. The Hokage was suspicious already and they hadn't actually lied to him yet. If they lied he would only get more suspicious...He said "Iie, he tried twice, but he failed the second time as well and then he left."

"What happened the second time?"

Gaara answered "My other team mate intercepted him."

"Intercepted..."

"Hokage-sama!" One of the Anbu had dropped back in. "There are no signs of Orochimaru in the forest, but Inuzuka-san picked up a scent. Should we pursue?"

Sandaime frowned. He said "Team Kakashi, I want a more in depth report later. You are dismissed. Waterfall team."

Ishigo said "Hai, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi frowned, then said "You are also dismissed, but don't leave Konoha for now."

Ishigo frowned. A tail was going to be put on them. That was bad. He still hadn't reconnected to Nekomi. He nodded "Hai." They left. When they got outside of the hokage's office, the rest of the ban nins were waiting, including Nekomi, who was carrying Naruto. She embraced Gaara, but let him go after a minute, not wanting to draw too much attention.

Ishigo put his hand up, requesting a link. They performed it. Ishigo thought 'We're going to be followed from now on. The hokage is suspicious.'

'That is reasonable.'

'Can you fix the seal?'

'No. It is not one I am familiar with. I will have to find the toad sannin.'

'But we don't know where he is and we can't get help finding him...'

'We'll find him. Kyuubi-san can only do so much.' She said "I guess all there is to do now is to wait for the other participants to finish the second stage. Do you suppose they'll go straight to the third stage after that?"

Itachi said "I hope not. I've had enough fighting for a bit." He thought 'We can use that time to find that toad sannin to help Naruto.' "Is N okay?"

Nekomi nodded "He's just exhausted. He's had a hard day. All of you have. Let's go get something to eat."

Shina asked "What do you want to eat?"

Nekomi said "I'm starving. How about ramen, neh?" She smiled as Naruto woke up "Ramen!" She chuckled.

Haku said "That's just like him." She smiled.

They went off in search of a ramen stand.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Hope you guys like the chapter. Sorry it's been a while since the last update, but I was busy. I've got some free time now, so I should be able to update a little sooner than usual. Oh well, until next time. Ja ne. 


	25. Chapter 25

Hello...I bet some of you thought I had abandoned this fic completely, with me not having updated for three months, but I haven't. I've just had the problem of getting a combination of 2 of the following things: motivation to write, ideas for new chapters, the time to sit down and write a chapter, etc. But, I finally came out with a new chapter. I hope you like it.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Nekomi, Zabuza, Gaara, Naruto and Itachi went to the ramen stand. Ishigo and his team, Tora, Haru and Takeo went to a barbeque place closeby and Shina and her team, Miwa and Taro went to a dango stand. Gaara had been split with staying and eating ramen or taking Itachi's place and going to the dango stand with his brother's team. He decided to stay with his otouto, Naruto and his kaasan.

Naruto asked "Hey, It...I..."

Itachi said "Yes, N?"

Naruto smiled a little in relief. He couldn't remember whether they were still using the code names or not. "I, how come you're not eating with your team?"

Itachi answered with a smile "Maybe I feel like some ramen."

Gaara joked "I thought you never wanted to eat ramen again, after that."

Naruto laughed while the rest of them chuckled at Itachi's embarassment at what had come to be known as the pink apron incident. Itachi muttered "Troublesome brat."

Naruto laughed some more, then suddenly he grimaced and clutched his lower neck, near his shoulder. He hissed. This caused everyone to grow alarmed. He shook his head "Nothing to worry about. It just flared up a bit, that's all."

Nekomi said "Let me take care of it."

Naruto shook his head. By taking care of it she meant taking the pain herself. He replied "No, you have enough to worry about. I'll be fine. It just surprised me that's all."

Zabuza frowned. He bet the ANBU spies the Hokage had watching them had seen that.

A rooftop away, a couple of ANBU sneezed. 'Why do we have to be doing this?' He complained mentally. His partner didn't look any happier. 'We're ANBU. Why are we watching this group of genin? Couldn't they get a jonin to this?'

Kakashi sneezed on his way out of the Hokage's office. He sighed. He had talked to the Hokage for about a half hour trying to convince him to let him be the one to take a look out for the waterfall nin, but he had been denied. The Hokage had told him that he had his team to look after. This was true, but...he didn't really need to be there. If he needed to tell them something, he could just send a kage bushin. He wanted to find out more about that woman.

Zabuza said "They're going to gather everyone together to talk about the third part of the exam in about an hour, right?"

Itachi said "That's right."

Zabuza looked at Itachi "Are you sure there's no where else you'd rather be?"

Itachi shook his head, catching Zabuza's drift. He said "No, I am where I want to be now and I'll be where I want to be in an hour."

Zabuza took this to mean that Itachi had plans to meet up with his little brother at the stadium. They all ordered their ramen and ate.

Nekomi was getting a little irritated as Zabuza was sending little concerned looks her way every few minutes. She said "I am fine," empasizing each word. She glared at Zabuza.

Zabuza looked at her sheepishly. Nekomi sighed. She said "Alright, we've got about twenty minutes now, let's go ahead to the tower."

"What about the others?"

Nekomi said "They'll be there too. They're responsible enough to be on time."

Sure enough, the other teams were already there when they arrived. The 'Jonin' leaders waved to each other.

Miwa winked at Itachi, causing him to blush. Nekomi smiled "You may want to rejoin your team, I-kun." Itachi shook his head, he was scanning the crowd. Nekomi said, realizing who he was searching for, "Talk to him when everyone's talking, after the hokage gives his speech."

Itachi nodded, distracted. He frowned. 'Where is he...' After some more scanning, he finally found Sasuke and his team in the crowd. His frown lightened up in relief. 'Sasuke seems to be alright. He looks distracted though and he's looking around for someone...' As he caught his brother's eye he realized he was looking for him. When he saw him about to come rushing over , he shook his head and mouthed 'Wait.' He saw his brother look at him for a second confused, then turn back around, with an annoyed gesture to face the balcony where the Hokage would be.

Finally the Hokage came out and spoke. Apparently, he had decided to tell no one of Orochimaru's attack during the second part of the exam and things were going as planned, except that there were going to be preliminary rounds, before the final match that took place in a month, that started immediately. Nekomi could understand the annoyed cries that went up. Many of the genin were still exhausted from the second part of the exam, to have preliminaries so soo after. She watched several genin from different villages drop out. She thought 'I suppose I should begin the reason why I'm here. It looks like the local dignitaries have shown up for the preliminaries. The others should be here for the final exam ina month. I shall have to complete my work then.' She stepped away as the Hokage called for all spectators to take their seats and for all participants to go up to the balcony.

Zabuza watched her go in discomfort 'Be careful, Nekomi...'

Haku asked "Is something wrong?"

Zabuza said "No...it's fine. I wonder who will be first in the matchups."

Naruto said "Yeah! I'm ready to do some real fighting! I didn't get to do any in the exam so far!"

Gaara said "You're about the only one."

Naruto said "Aww, come on, you're telling me that you don't want to fight, not even a little. You've got to be getting bored too."

Gaara said "No."

Naruto said "Yes, you are."

Haku said "Na...N, stop bothering G-kun."

"But I'm bored."

"We could play janken."

"I guess."

Gaara watched the two play rock-paper-scizzors while everyone was getting settled. He frowned. It wasn't good that there were going to be preliminaries. That held up their looking for the sannin that could help Naruto and the longer he had that curse mark on him, the more damage it could do. Plus, Konoha made him nervous. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. He guessed the reason Naruto wasn't nervous was that he was distracted at the moment. Either that, or he was hiding it really well right now. He watched the first match, it was between the pink haired girl, Sakura, on Sasuke's team and of a blonde girl. He shook his head as the blonde girl barely defeated the pink haired one. They were both weak. 'They wouldn't even be genin by Ban's standards.' The second match was a couple of genin he didn't pay much attention to fighting each other. The only interesting thing was that the one who one had bugs fighting for him. The third match was Naruto versus some kid named Kiba. Wait, Naruto?! He turned to warn his brother to be careful, but Naruto had already jumped down. Gaara frowned 'Be careful, you idiot.'

Naruto grinned as he stretched "It's about time!"

Kiba said "You're pretty loud, kid."

Naruto said "And you smell bad, dog breath."

"What did you call me?"

"Dog breath."

"Well, you smell...you smell like a fox!"

Naruto was shocked and almost lost his composure. He quickly made up a story to tell. He said "Well, I live in a forest where there're foxes. What's your excuse? Do you live in a doghouse?"

Kiba growled. Gaara sweatdropped. 'Do you have to act that immature in a match where everyone's watching you? Honestly, sometimes, if I didn't know better, I'd think you really were a lousy shinobi. The way you act...He stressmarked as Naruto continued his taunts after the proctor started the match. He yelled "Just get on with it! Act professional for Kami's sake!"

His teammates looked shocked at his outburst, as Naruto did, for a second. Gaara sat down, embarassed.

Naruto scratched his head, sheepishly, He said "Heh heh, I guess I should get serious. I must have taken it a little overboard if aniki got mad enough to yell at me."

Kiba said "Even if you get serious, I'll still wipe the floor with you."

Naruto shrugged "Whatever, dog breath." He grinned "Let's get started! Mizu bushin no jutsu!"

Nekomi tensed, in the stands, seeing Naruto do a bushin, but relaxed when she saw it was a mizu bushin. She was glad Naruto had enough forethought not to do the kage bushin. That would have been very bad, considering the Hokage already found them suspicious. The other waterfall nin were having similar thoughts.

In the ring, Kiba had taken his dog out of his hood and it stood beside him with its hackles raised. Kiba said "Alright, Akamaru, let's show this loser, Gatsuga!"

He destroyed three out of the dozen clones with the gatsuga, then doubled back and got another three. Naruto thought 'Okay, my fire and kage bushin techniques are off limits. There's not enough water around to do a lot of water techniques. I've only got one good wind technique and that really wouldn't work well in here, it's too powerful. What do I do? Just taijutsu? There's genjutsu, but I don't know a lot of techniques in that either...I can't summon...geez, I guess it's a taijutsu battle then, I guess I could use kunai and shuriken.' He smiled. 'Enhancing them with wind shouldn't hurt, too much.'

Kiba yelled "Hey, pay attention! I just destroyed all your clones! I bet you're about out of energy by now, huh?"

Naruto couldn't help laughing. He said "Dog breath, you have no idea. Prepare yourself." He ran at Kiba.

Kiba dodged the first strike and yelled "If you're not out of chakra, how come you switched to taijutsu?"

Naruto said "I've got some better techniques, but I didn't want to destroy the stadium."

Kiba sneered "Yeah, right, like a puny genin like you would have techniques that powerful. You're lying."

Naruto's eyes flashed "I don't lie."

Kiba said "Prove it! I want to see one of these amazing techniques of yours."

Naruto frowned 'No, kaasan would be dissapointed. I can't let my temper get to me...' He smiled a little "You're not worth the effort."

Kiba snorted "Yeah, right. You just can't do it."

Naruto suddenly felt a strong urge to do an exploding justu to the face of this annoying leaf genin, a strong urge. He restrained himself and just rushed at him, faster than last time. This time, he clipped the genin with a punch. He smiled. It had felt good to do that. He got a little faster and went at him again.

Gaara frowned. He turned to Haku and Itachi. They were frowning too. He didn't like the feeling Naruto was giving off. He knew that he hated Konoha, but the feeling he was starting to give off was malevolent and he was getting fast, he was soon up to his regular speed and he was thouroughly beating the Leaf nin. After another minute of this, the proctor stepped in and declared Naruto the winner. Zabuza, Itachi, Gaara and Haku met him as he ascended the stairs.

Haku asked "Don't you think you overdid it, N-kun?"

Naruto turned to her with a fierce gaze and said, in a low voice that sent shivers down her spine, "He deserved it."

Gaara frowned. He didn't like the energy coming from Naruto. He grew alarmed when she saw a several black commas spiraling out from the mark. He said "We need to talk, as soon as we get up the stairs."

Naruto turned to look at him, his gaze still fierce, but then, after locking eyes with his brother for a second, his eyes went back to normal and he looked around in a daze "Huh, why is everybody frowning at me like that? Did I lose the fight or something?"

Haku asked "You don't remember?"

Naruto scratched his head "Heh, things are a little fuzzy after the part where I first landed a hit on the guy and then everybody was looking at me funny. What?"

Gaara said, more gently, "We've got to talk, now." He grabbed his brother's shoulder and performed wakeshin.

Gaara showed Naruto the fight. Naruto cringed. "I...I don't remember doing that. I...hate konoha nins, but I...it looks like I almost killed him. I wasn't trying to kill him. I mean, he pissed me off, but I don't just go off killing people..."

Gara said "I think it was the curse seal, I could see some of it a minute ago. I thought the fox had it under control though."

Naruto frowned "Me too."

Gaara said "Bring up what you remember."

Naruto asked "Do I have to? I saw what happened already." He had a feeling he wasn't going to like what he saw.

Gaara answered "Your's might give us a better idea of what happened. Go on."

Naruto frowned, but he complied. He then watched in disgust as he felt himself enjoy beating the life out of the leaf genin, feeling more and more pleasure out of every hit. The other boy truly was lucky to be alive, if the other examiner had not stepped in when he did, he probably wouldn't be. "I... I acted like...like a...like a...m..monster." Naruto choked out. "I enjoyed it. I...what's wrong with me, how could I enjoy almost killing someone? I wanted to kill him! What's wrong with me?" Naruto asked, beginning to get scared. "Is it going to get worse? I don't want to become like that, I don't want to turn into a monster, aniki!" It had been a worry of his ever since he had found out about the Kyuubi.

Gaara hugged his brother and thought 'Man, I wish mom was here, she'd be able to handle this better than me and I don't know how to get in contact with Kyuubi. I'll just have to hope he's got everything mostly under control until mom can check.' He said "It'll be okay, Naruto, you're not going to turn into a monster. You've just got to try hard to keep control of your emotions until we can get that seal fixed, okay?"

Naruto nodded. Gaara broke the link. Naruto looked down, away from his friends, and ashamed of his behavior.

Haku asked, softly, "Are you alright?"

Naruto said "I'm sorry, for what happened back there. I...

Itachi said "Don't worry about it. We all lose control sometimes. Just watch your temper from now on. It's dangerous for you to lose control over your emotions right now."

"Hai."

Just then a black haired boy appeared beside Itachi, almost causing him to jump. "Why aren't you with your team?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

Itachi grabbed his brother's hand discreetly, to hide the action from the ANBU who were probably already suspicious of what his oneesan had done with Naruto.

Sasuke found himself pulled to a place like before. He asked "How do you do this? It's not tsukiyomi."

Itachi said "It's a ninjutsu technique. Now talk. No one can hear us in here."

Sasuke looked away slightly, embarassed "So, ano...aniki..."

Itachi said "Spit it out, otouto."

Sasuke asked "What's going to happen after this part of the exam?"

Itachi said "At least some of us are going to go look for someone who can help out Naruto."

Sasuke asked, with a frown, "What was wrong with him?"

Itachi said "You are to tell no one, but the curse seal is affecting him, slowly."

Sasuke said "The curse seal that was intended for me..." He looked away.

Itachi said "Do not worry yourself over it, he will recover. He is strong."

"He doesn't like me"  
"He doesn't like any leaf nin, really, so it's not you. He'd like you if he got to know you."

"Why did he save me if he didn't like me?"

Itachi looked uncomfortable "Because I asked him and his team to watch out for you."

Sasuke thought 'So that's what he was talking about.' He said "He, they, called you aniki too."

Itachi said "They're part of the family I have now."

Sasuke asked "What will you do after the final matches?"

Itachi said "Go home."

Sasuke said "But Konoha is your home."

Itachi shook his head "Konoha has not been my home since that day. I can never return here."

"But aniiki..."

Itachi smiled "In fact, I believe I am currently dead."

"What do you mean?"

"Look me up in the bingo books a few years back, over the break. You'll see." He paused "Neesan made an offer, we could have you die too, and you could come home with us, think about it."

"Huh? Wait, I'm not done talking..." Sasuke faded out as Itachi ended the link.

Once out, Itachi said "Your turn, kid." His brother versus a nin from sound was the next match.

In the spectator stands, Nekomi was in the middle of a talk with a lesser damiyo. She had felt a chill go through her from Naruto's match, but she was glad that feeling was receeding. She had almost gone over, if the feeling hadn't receded, she would have and that could have been bad. The whole reason she was here was for the negotiations. She couldn't really afford to mess them up. "Ah, Kagami-san?"

"Hai?"

Down in the stadium. Sasuke was getting his chakra sucked out by his opponent. Itachi was getting annoyed up in the stands. He didn't want to blow his cover by yelling out to his brother, but he needed to switch to taijutsu quickly. He relaxed some when Sasuke figured it out and knocked the older genin off. 'His taijutsu form is terrible. I'm going to have to fix it. He must have made up what he hadn't been taught of their taijutsu form himself.

Sasuke thought 'Crap, I'm really low on chakra now. I wish I had known that guy could drain chakra before I did those katon jutsus...I've got to do this the smart way...

Itachi watched, impressed as his brother used taijutsu to back the other genin into a trap and distract him with weapons before coming up from behind and doing a roundhouse to the back of his head and winning the match. 'Good job, otouto.'

Haku watched, distracted, as Itachi's little brother walked up the stairs. She looked at Naruto, a little worried. She wondered where kaasan was and she hoped that she would get done with the negotiations soon and get back here so she could look at Naruto. She looked at his neck. At least the curse seal wasn't visible anymore, except for the three tomas that formed the seal.  
"Haku, get down there, it's your match!"

"Huh?"

Naruto said "You're up, against that Hyuuga boy from earlier. Get down there."

"Oh, sorry." Haku blushed, embarassed at being caught in thought.

Naruto smiled "Have a good match, sis."

Haku smiled back "Hai." She went down.

Neji waited in the ring and watched the girl come down. He said "It is your fate to lose to me."

Haku asked "How is that? I've never seen you before."

Neji said "A weakling like you cannot defeat a genius like me."

Haku thought 'Hyuuga, that means he's like Hisoka-san. He should use the jyuken style too. Hisoka-san said that there was a weak point, that there was a small space where they couldn't see. If she could attack that small unguarded space...but she couldn't use her best techniques, her ice techniques. That would reveal too much about her. Very few could control ice. It was a good thing that she had picked up some weapon skills with senbon. "Oh, you were saying something?"

Neji grew agitated. She had just ignored his fate speech. He said "Enough of this. Byakugon! Eight trigrams sixty-four palms!"

Haku dodged the strikes fluidly, to her opponents shock. 'Hm...I know a technique that should work, without being too show-offy.' She took a small scroll out of the pouch on her thigh and opened it. She bit her thumb and swiped it across a seal quickly and an umbrella popped out. She sent it up, propelled by chakra instead of wind. "Rain of one thousand needles!" She sent the senbon down 'here comes the tricky part.'

Neji used kaiten to dodge the incoming senbon, then he noticed the girl had stopped moving. He then noticed the tiny strings attached to each senbon 'She has chakra strings, on all of those senbon? How can she control them all?' He asked himself, in shock. Suddenly,the senbon he had dodged came back around. At least half of them. He saw her jerk her left hand his way. He did kaiten again and thought 'I can't keep doing kaiten, I'll be out of chakra. I'll have to cut the strings...I don't have a technique to cut them all at once...' He grew frustrated 'I'll just have to get close to her. She won't be able to use them if I'm inside her guard!' He rushed in.

Haku thought 'What does he think he's doing? Did he forget that I can dodge him close up? How does he plan on winning? Although it's true that he can prolong the fight if he stays close...ah, that's it. he plans on me running out of chakra before him!' Haku smirked 'That's not going to happen. I really doubt this guy has more chakra than I do, besides he's wasted more than I have with the kaiten. Hisoka-san can only do six in a day without running low on chakra. I bet this boy's not as good as him.'

Neji growled "Pay attention to this fight, unless you want to die!"

Haku said "Hmm, so you want to see who runs out of chakra first in our dance?" She smiled "That's fine. It will be a fairly easy fight that way."

"You have to get tired sometime."

Haku smiled "Likewise." She dropped the senbon and let the chakra strings dissipate.

Neji smirked "That was your mistake." He rushed forward with another sixty-four palms. Haku dodged again.

Gaara shook his head from up in the stands. "It's turned into a stamina match."

Zabuza yawned "Stamina matches are always so boring, I wonder why she doesn't just finish the kid off."

Itachi said "It is a mistake to show your best moves to an opponent unless absolutely necessary."

Zabuza looked at Itachi and paused for a second. Then he said "Mah, that's true, but it's still boring."

Itachi sweatdropped "You're hopeless."

Zabuza laughed "And you're too serious."

"You should be more serious."

Zabuza frowned for a second. He said "Kid, I'm serious about a lot of things, but this..." he chuckled "Is far from serious. Look at 'em. That's not a fight. It's a dance!" He started laughing again "And the best part is how it's pissing off that other kid!"

Neji was getting a headache at this point. "Stand still already!"

Haku chuckled "And what? Let you hit me? That hardly seems fair."

Neji growled. "How do you keep that up? Just how much energy do you have?"

Haku said "How much do you have? You've used kaiten twice and your flashy technique three times. I wonder if you have enough to do it again."

Neji scowled. He only had enough chakra to do that attack one more time and he would be out. Why wasn't this match over yet? His style was ineffective. He almost wished he had listened to Gai sensei and learned another style on top of jyuken, or have trained with more weapons with tenten, now. 'Damn, gentle fist has never failed me before. Why is it failing now? I'll have to resort to other tactics.'

Haku frowned slightly. What was he up to? He had deactivated his byakugon. And he...fell over? Haku went over to him. Had he run out of chakra and passed out? She reached over to touch him when he suddenly flipped around and sent a jyuken strike to her chest. She flew backward and flipped over several times.

Up in the stands...Zabuza growled "That was a dirty shot. This is supposed to be a fair fight, too."

Naruto growled "Damn leaf nin, taking advantage of Haku like that..."

Gaara grabbed his brother's shoulder and said, quietly, "Temper, temper." Naruto calmed down a little and forced himself to relax. It wouldn't be good to set the curse seal off again.

Down in the ring...

Haku stood up slowly, coughing 'Damn, he got me.' Her eyes watered. 'I should have seen that coming...' She felt a sharp sting at her chest and looked down. It wasn't just the strike. She was bleeding. She looked. The crystal, it had been shattered and some of it had gotten into her skin. She panicked. If a sliver got to her heart...She cried out from her position against the wall and pulled off her overshirt, leaving her in a shirt like a sports bra. She picked out the pieces she could easily, with a wince. Now she'd have to do the extraction of the other pieces. She hoped that the leaf nin stood there dumb until she could fix herself.

Zabuza panicked when he saw Haku's image flicker out and her true self appear and then he double panicked when he saw the blood seeping out. He realized what happened and was about to run down and stop the match when Itachi stopped him. He said "Don't."

Zabuza turned to him and glared "Didn't you see what happened?"

Itachi said "She needs to finish the procedure herself. If she gets interrupted or moved, she might die. The leaf nin is shocked at the moment. Haku's smart, she'll find a way out of it."

"But..."

Gaara said "Aniki's right. Give sis five minutes. If she's not back up standing by then, you can forfeit the match."

Zabuza backed away from the railing a little bit "Fine, but I'm only going to give her three."

Neji looked at the girl in front of him. What had been a girl who looked around sixteen or seventeen with brown hair and brown eyes had turned into a girl who looked around his age or a little younger with long black hair and grey eyes, and a huge, bleeding wound on her chest. 'How...what...my byakugon didn't detect a genjutsu...and the jyuken doesn't cause blood like that...' He looked down at his hand which had started to sting and found something like glass in it. Suddenly it began to hurt, a lot. He cried out.

Haku was exhausted now. She had just finished pulling all of the splinters out and she got rid of them when she noticed her opponent crying out. 'That's right, the crystals are made of solidified chakra. Since my chakra was used for the crystal, it's poison to anyone else. That's the way kaasan designed it. He must have gotten some in his hand where he hit me.' She took the last bit of her energy and flopped over to him, where he had fallen onto his knees.

Neji looked up at the strange girl. "Wha...what is this?" He gasped out.

Haku said "Let me help."

Neji hissed "No!"

Haku said "I must treat your hand quickly, or you could suffer greater damage. I don't have enough energy for anything else, but I can't forfeit yet, they wouldn't let me stay to heal you."

"Why do you care?" Neji ground out.

Haku said "I'm the only one who can help you, right now. Trust me. After this, I will pass out, and you will be declared the winner. Now, let me see your hand." She took his hand. Neji felt some energy leave him.

"What kind of trick is this?"

Haku said "No trick. I'm sorry, I needed a little more energy. I'll be able to do it now." She removed the splinters and got rid of them like she had gotten rid of the others, by converting them back into regular chakra and absorbing them. She passed out.

Neji flexed his hand. It didn't look like it even had a scratch now. Was she a medic? "Match goes to Hyuuga Neji."

Neji walked back up the stairs, distracted 'Why...did she help me? I'm her enemy. What I did to her...and she still helped me. She could have won the match if she didn't. I don't understand...'

"Neji?"

"Hmn?"

"What's the matter?" Ten Ten asked.

"Nothing." Neji turned and walked ahead of his team mates, who had come down to greet him.

Zabuza had immediately gone after Haku and brought her back up. Itachi, being the one with the best medic skills out of the four of them, took a look at her. He said "She healed herself, and I'm guessing that other kid too. That took all of the energy she had left. She'll be out for a while."

Naruto asked, worried, "But she's going to be okay?"

Itachi smiled "She's going to be okay."

"Next match, Banshou Mino against Lee."

Gaara sighed "I really hate these preliminaries." 


End file.
